The Perfections of Imperfections
Chapter 3
Sleeping is one of the most natural instincts known to man. Or should be.
This was the reason as to why Sora was fuming. Because it was exactly two thirty-two in the morning and the spiky haired teenager was yet to have a single droop of his eyes. And with each stretched insignificant minute Sora was awake, Roxas was in his mind's eye.
The blonde swirly spikes, pale skin, slightly slack jaw and the squinting (but still wide) blue eyes were all part of a clear image that had resided in Sora's mind since the instant it had occurred earlier that day. However, a film of doubt covered Roxas as if he was merely a memory of a dream.
It did happen though… right? Roxas did look at him, right?
Sora pelted the maths textbook he was hoping would bore him to sleep across his bedroom. The sharp, loud slap of paper on his door was unsatisfying.
Why should he care if Roxas looked or not?!
A creak of wood suddenly caught his attention and when the hall light slipped under his door, a pang of guilt twisted his stomach: he had momentarily forgotten other people were in the house and sleeping (or were).
"Thanks a lot, Roxas." Sora muttered into his pillow.
His door slowly opened, revealing his father and allowing light to flood in reassuringly, "Sora? What was that noise?"
Sitting up and feeling calmer in the light, Sora answered, "Sorry, Dad. I couldn't get a math's problem right and err…"
His father gave him a long, disgruntled look and mumbled, "Do you really think I'm gonna believe you were studying when you could be sleeping?"
Sora blinked.
"What did you break?" His father sighed, rubbing at his tired eyes.
"N-nothing!" Sora exclaimed, slightly insulted.
Shaking his head, his father shuffled out of Sora's room, sighing "Just go to sleep so I can sleep."
The door closed and the light vanished a little too quickly, leaving Sora to his frustrations.
He listened to his father and mother speaking to each other for a small moment and the house fell dead silent once again.
And for the first time in the two hours and twenty minutes Sora had been trying to sleep, his eyes felt heavy and he even yawned. Letting his eyelids fall slightly and allowing his mind to drop into his sub-conscious, Sora felt a smile tickle the corners of his lips. Well, until a persistent mind-invading blonde was suddenly in view and sitting next to the brunette in a memory of when Sora first met Roxas.
Sora snapped upward, breaking into reality and from his dream in a gasp. Meeting his empty, cold room his expression fell into a scowl.
So I can't even escape in my dreams now?! Sora internally hissed. Who the hell is this Roxas guy and why is he so annoying?
Again, feeling his primeval instinct to be angry when confused, Sora snatched his pillow and blindly threw it across his room. Only for it to hit his desk and knock a lamp over. The lamp clumsily thumped on the wooden floor and in a vain effort to silence the noise, Sora watched the lamp roll on the floor from under his quilts.
"Sora!" Said boy suddenly heard barked through a few walls from his father.
"Sorry!" The guilty teenager called back.
And it was then Sora decided that enough was enough. No longer would this Roxas boy keep him from sleeping or from being able to actually relax at school or from giving him a tiny minute to think about something other than that half assed shrug of his! Why should that blonde be able to anyway?! Sora only wanted his friends and a simple life, he never asked for the blonde to take over his existence so he simply wouldn't allow it!
The suddenly enlightened teenager grinned to himself in triumph and barely restrained the blissful urge to burst into laughter: he could do this, no more Roxas. Easy peasy.
And finally feeling light, Sora soon found sleep.
Sora woke up pissed off. Fair enough he wasn't much of a morning person (he would avoid them like the plague if he could) but he was pissed off this morning.
Because when Sora conjured up his little 'NO MORE ROXAS' plan, the poor brunette hadn't took his sub-conscious into account and, of course, it betrayed him. His sleep was filled to the brim with swirling blonde spikes and wide blue eyes.
And what made this day worse was the fact that it was Friday. And Friday meant assembly day at school and that meant, as always, the headmaster would catch Sora during his free hour and tell him to help the janitors to rearrange the chairs for lunch.
But who knew? Maybe, just maybe, he would get lucky and a rainbow would appear in the sky and he wouldn't have to use his free hour to arrange chairs and Roxas would turn out to be a long annoying dream?!
Maybe. Yes, Sora would remain positive, as always.
"You're a senior, correct?" The aging bulky headmaster grunted to the sour-faced brunette.
"Yes." You know I am, you stupid old man, you ask me every week!
"Help out, then." The headmaster complained, directing Sora towards the chairs waiting to be stacked.
And at that, the hopelessly disappointed teenager dragged his feet towards the chairs and the headmaster stalked off mumbling something about kids wasting their free periods.
With a heavy sigh that would meet the mountain tops, Sora began stacking, wondering how the fat headmaster had caught his attempt to sneak out the main school doors.
Perhaps it was time to give up his worthless effort to actually get his free hour on a Friday? Sora helplessly thought as he piled the chairs onto each other. Sure, the first few times he was happy to help but-
"You can help out too." Sora heard the headmaster gruffly mutter behind him.
Oh, I feel you, friend. Sora sympathised internally as he pictured the poor student that had been caught by the headmaster during their free period.
"But-" The brunette heard the student protest.
No use arguing, poor brother. Sora amusedly called to himself.
"Just help that boy up there." The headmaster ordered.
"But-" The boy tried again.
This guy must really want his free. Sora pondered as he continued stacking the chairs with his back to the opposing people.
"Go." The headmaster barked.
Sora paused for a small moment as the rough headmaster's voice bounced off the hall's walls. But a defeated sigh soon met the headmaster's echoes and the sound of shuffling feet followed.
Feeling somewhat conquered too, Sora presumed his work.
Hearing the scrape of chairs and bitter mumbles of the other boy now stacking too, Sora felt a comfortable bond form between himself and his cantankerous companion. It was then, a wary, anxious, excited knot formed in Sora's stomach. He hadn't looked to see who the other person was, there was a slither of chance it was the very boy who had overlooked every thought Sora had had over the past month, right?
Roxas could be merely a foot away from him at this very instant. Sora felt a cold yet thrilling sweat break out over his slightly shaken body. His cobalt eyes darted to the side, in hope to see the mystery person but his anticipation was useless and quite frankly wearisome as hell because the person had moved further behind him. He heard the boy huff into the air and Sora felt a berating smile curve his lips.
The brunette slammed the chairs into a stack (while screaming within himself his plan to forget Roxas) and unintentionally caught the other boy's attention.
"You alright?" The boy carefully asked however, his temper still skimmed the surface of his voice.
And then without a reason Sora knew or understood, his expression, body and heartbeat calmed almost instantly.
Frowning in confusion the brunette looked up and without hesitation turned to the other boy.
Seeing blonde hair, Sora's body set to frantic life again for a panicked second but on meeting an unknown face with glaring brown eyes he relaxed immediately once again.
"What?" The other boy snapped to Sora.
Taken aback by the boy's immediate hostile nature, Sora shook his head and replied, "Nothing" before continuing his work. You don't have to be so pissy, though.
It was five minutes before a voice spoke again and it was from neither of the two boys stacking chairs.
"Hayner? Should you not be in class?" A surprised boy asked 'Hayner'.
Sora didn't even bother turning around; feeling too mentally exhausted.
"Yes, I should. But that fat ass headmaster told me to do this!" 'Hayner' snarled back.
"Want me to?" The other, calm boy suggested.
"You not supposed to be in class too?"
The short silence that followed suggested a shrug.
"Thanks, you're a pal!" Hayner exclaimed, happy as the Easter bunny now.
Boy, that hot head must have a spilt personality.
"Thanks again!" Sora heard the boy call, his voice growing quieter as he walked down the hall to the main corridors, "See ya at lunch, Roxas!"
Sora practically threw the chairs he had been about to stack to the floor. His entire system broke down, he felt dizzy; ill with petrified dread.
"You alright?" Hearing Roxas' voice sent the brunette into a steely like panic, almost painful. "Lemme help."
He could feel a pulsing numbness in his knees as they threatened to give out.
And then the very same blonde swirls that Sora had studied over and over in his mind, the pale skin, skinny form and slouched shoulders were all in view. However, with the exception of Roxas' out of the ordinary eyes (his hair was doing a good job of hiding them from Sora's keen gaze).
For the first time Sora found himself disliking Roxas' astray fringe.
"Oh, it's Sora, right?"
The casual, light tone the blonde had so carelessly used snapped Sora out of his frozen state. The brunette felt millions of unfocused emotions clash inside of him at that second.
He didn't know if he should be incredibly pissed and insulted at Roxas' casual greeting, happy, sad, terrified beyond belief or simply uncaring?
The strange energy that filled his being at that second tossed around clumsily, making Sora dizzy.
"Sora?" Roxas asked again. Still casual.
And then all that energy and emotion had a direction: Roxas.
"What?" Sora answered his voice surprisingly blank.
Sora's eyes lifted from the ground and finally to Roxas' eyes. The whirlwind of energy inside of him pulsed.
"N-nothing." The blonde shook off, taking his eyes from Sora's and to the chairs Sora had dropped.
A heart-racing moment passed in which Sora could even see the tension he was accidently giving off. Roxas must think he is a freak now.
The brunette's eyes lingered on the busy blonde for a moment and the frazzled teenager himself knew his gaze was frowned and longing, for what? Who knew? And defeated and suddenly in need of a nice comfy nap, Sora helped Roxas clean up the scattered chairs.
But not for long because how could anyone expect Sora to concentrate on something just so bloody boring as stacking chairs when a near obsession of his was within arm's reach and would be for the next thirty minutes if he was so unlucky/lucky?
Sora had to use this time to figure out and deal with the chaotic emotions still swirling in his gut and chest and why they reacted so frantically around Roxas.
And so gripping onto a chair for support, as his heart jumped into his throat, Sora spoke to Roxas, "You're Roxas, right?"
The brunette swallowed his heart and took a breath to calm his fears (of nothing, really) while the blonde lifted his head.
This was it: this would be the moment where Sora would figure out if he hated, wanted to befriend, didn't care or was jealous or something of Roxas, all Sora had to do now was wait for those bright, fantastic eyes to meet his own.
"Yeah." The blonde almost sighed back before bluntly turning back to the chairs.
The storm of emotion inside of Sora throbbed feverishly as the brunette glared at the back of the blonde's head. HE CAN'T JUST SAY 'YEAH'!
The complete absentee of realization or explanation to the half-assed blonde's part in Sora's life blind-sighted the boy's thought-filter and before the brunette could stop himself he had blurted in a squeaky embarrassing tone, "What do you mean 'yeah'?!"
Roxas looked up to Sora, in mild (not full) surprise. And Sora looked back, in full shock at how and what he had just said.
It was too much, too many emotions spun around inside of brunette and the only place he could look was Roxas' half surprised expression and eyes. Sora felt weak and pathetic to the blonde, he felt like a slave to whatever Roxas would do and he knew deep down that he didn't even mind his unexplained, infuriating loyalty to a person he hardly knew.
The teenager felt like he was tumbling alone; that he was the only one going through these floods of emotions, all of which ended back up at Roxas. It must be possible that Roxas had some sort of awareness of the insanity Sora was facing, right? There was no way Roxas was completely oblivious to Sora…right?
Sora's eyes lowered as he felt his energy drain.
But a quiet chuckling brought his cobalt eyes up again and never in his life had Sora felt so intoxicated by another person before. Roxas was smiling and Sora knew and fully noted there was nothing half about it. It was simply a great smile that proudly showcased Roxas' brilliant slightly crooked teeth. But the best part of the smile was, it met his eyes. And the instant Sora met those eyes too, the brunette was grinning, happy as he could imagine ever being despite the fact he had no idea why Roxas was smiling.
Another chuckle trailed from Roxas' lips and the blonde, closing his eyes for a brief second and shaking his head slightly, radiated amusement.
Sora engraved the image in his mind; blonde spikes, pale skin, closed eyes, contagious smile, bent form, arms leaning on chair…
Roxas opened his eyes and Sora realised he had missed those bright clear blues. Roxas fixed his gaze back to the gleeful brunette.
"So odd." Roxas murmured to himself and Sora felt the array of emotion inside of his chest thrive and buzz excitedly as Roxas glanced to the brunette teasingly before resuming his chair stacking.
"So you gonna stack chairs or have another mood swing?" Roxas asked, half his smile gone now.
"Well-" Sora joyfully began but was interrupted by the slam of the hall doors and the calling, "ROXAS!"
As if it were his own name called (or an insult thrown at him) the brunette found his body whipped around by self will to find the one who decided to take Roxas' attention away from him.
Hayner.
"Roxas, you, me: ditching! NOW." The brown eyed boy shouted from the bottom of the hall. What an idiot, the brunette growled to himself.
Sora's eyes flicked to Roxas who was hastily making 'shhhhhhhhuuuuushhh, you retard' signs but a frown met his expression when Roxas half-grinned to Hayner and gave the boy a thumbs up while lifting his bag.
"Ditching me then?" Sora asked, without thought and sounding a little more hurt than he knew he should be.
Roxas gave a nearly shrug and Sora felt like punching him. The blonde wasn't even lifting his eyes to meet the disgruntled brunette's own anymore.
"Whatever." Sora grumbled as he roughly picked up a chair to slam it onto a stack Roxas had been building.
But then, as Sora stepped to pick up another chair, Roxas stepped forward too meaning that a brush of skin was made.
Sora's breath choked him and electric, blissful, terrifying pulses shot through his body from that one little spot on his arm Roxas had bumped into, leaving the brunette hyperventilating and even more confused than ever. But all the time some separate part of his brain was collecting frustration as he listened to Roxas stalk off down the hall to pissy, stupid Hayner as if nothing had even happened! As if he and the brunette hadn't spoken to eachother at all! The teenager sighed and rolled his eyes at his own womanish, needy behaviour.
Ignoring the fact he was acting like a girl, Sora peeked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Roxas (another tonne of adrenaline exploded in his chest) but it was the sight of Hayner that sent Sora into an almost panic attack.
Hayner somehow placed Sora back into reality and forced the brunette to realize that practically getting high off some guy's (as if Roxas was just some guy, though) brief touch wasn't exactly normal.
And wondering if there was any way to ensure that himself and Roxas would be bumping into one and other again (literally) was definitely not normal, probably more insane if anything.
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