.o.O.o.
I own nothing! Don't sue me!
For additional disclaimers, warnings, summary, pairings, and everything else see the first chapter!
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Suggested food: nekkid
Suggested beverage: thingamasquig
Suggested listening: "Naked" – Avril Lavigne XD
.o.O.o
Where the Hell is Magic Lake?
Chapter 09: Skinnydipping
-o-
Later that night after Axel had calmed down and was back to his normal, annoying self, dinner had been served, and Roxas had obligatorily waited for at least one star to flicker it's pathetic little twinkle of light into the night sky, the blonde crawled into his tent and flopped down onto his bedding (not even bothering to take off his clothes), sighing as he closed his eyes. Despite the nap he had taken earlier in the day, he didn't feel at all rested up. Deciding that he was going to catch up on a well deserved good nights sleep – something he had been deprived of the last few nights – Roxas turned over on his side, curling around a pillow and almost instantly drifting off into a dreamless slumber.
.x.X.x.
"Roxas… Hey, Roxas…"
Vaguely, in his half-asleep haze, Roxas registered that someone was whispering his name, obviously trying to get a response out of him. But he was having none of that – he had been asleep up until a minute ago, when the nagging voice had stirred him half awake, and he was not going to give whoever it was the pleasure of being dignified with a response of any kind. Besides, after hanging out with Sora and Axel for all this time Roxas had learned to effectively block out any unwanted conversation.
"…Fine, I didn't wanna have to do this the hard way, but you give me no other choice."
Suddenly Roxas was being scooped up, blankets and all, and carried out of the tent. He suddenly felt wide awake, blinking his eyes open and glaring up at whoever was holding him. Which, of course turned out to be Axel.
"Axel, what the hell are you doing?!" He asked. (Quite calmly in his opinion, given the situation. It was the middle of the night, and Axel was carting him off into the woods or somewhere just as bad for all he knew.)
"I tried waking you up and doing this the easy way, but you were being stubborn." Axel said, looking like he was taking great enjoyment in the current situation, and even preferred it over 'the easy way'.
"Of course I was!" Roxas shot back, beginning to struggle in Axel's hold. "It's the middle of the night! Where the hell would I be needing to go in the middle of the night, other than back into my tent so that I can go back to sleep?!"
Axel grinned, looking down at Roxas in the bundle of blankets in his arms. "We're going swimming."
Roxas stopped struggling and deadpanned, his expression unamused. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope!" Axel happily replied.
And indeed, Axel wasn't kidding. Roxas saw the lake reflecting the moonlight only a few yards away. Two figures stood by its edge – presumably Sora and Riku – and it finally sunk in for Roxas that he was really expected to get in the water in the middle of the night. Well he was having none of that!
"Axel, put me down right now!" he commanded, launching anew into his feeble, tangled attempts at escape. "I never assumed you had much of a mind to begin with, but you must have had one, because you have obviously lost it if you expect me to get in that lake in the middle of the night! It's going to be freaking cold!"
"But fun!"
"Oh, yeah – my crotch is freezing in anticipation." Roxas sarcastically remarked. "Come on, who knows what's in there at night!"
"Nothing that wasn't there during the day."
"Oh! Right! This from the spaz-case who was afraid a lake monster was going to eat him this afternoon!"
Axel was saved from having to reply to this, however, because they had finally arrived at the lake's edge, Sora smiling up brightly at Roxas in his captive hold.
"Yay! Axel got you to come!"
"More like forcibly kidnapped me…" Roxas muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Okay then!" Sora replied. "Axel, you can put him down now!"
Roxas glared up at Axel, who complied with Sora's directives, letting go of the blonde to let him fall rather ungracefully to the ground, tangled in his blankets which, of course, ended up in the water, immediately becoming soaking wet. Letting out a panicked yelp, Roxas attempted to salvage what he could, but it turned out there was no saving the soaked sheets, he'd just have to wait until tomorrow and lay them out in the sun to dry or put them by the fire.
Rather meeved at Axel for dropping him, Roxas sent him a glare before turning to Sora, gathering that he was the ringleader for this late night escapade.
"So why the hell did you drag us out here – or in my case get someone else to drag me out here – in the middle of the night?" Roxas grumpily questioned. In reply Sora sent Roxas a wide, toothy grin, and Roxas's brain immediately went into 'panic!' mode. Nothing that got Sora this excited this late out in the woods could be good for him. And at Sora's enthusiastic announcement that followed, all of his apprehensions were confirmed.
"We're going swimming!"
Well duh! Roxas already knew that. He just wanted to know why, but it didn't seem like anyone cared to tell him. But he might as well make one last attempt at pointing out the ludicrousy of the situation to the crazy brunette. "Sora, we can go swimming during the day when it's not so cold and dark. And besides, I don't have my swimsuit with me so I don't think… Sora, why are you taking your pants off… Sora… why are you… uh…."
Roxas trailed off as Sora was currently in the process of not only shedding himself of just his pants and shirt, but the rest of his clothes as well. Roxas's eyes widened and he was equally torn between taking the girly approach of squealing and blushing like crazy while averting his gaze, or taking the manly approach and being highly offended and making some witty and possibly insulting retort at Sora to cast light on the awkwardness of the situation and hopefully get him to put his clothes back on. In the end his conflicting response choices reached some sort of compromise and he looked away with an explosive blush and some sort of undignified 'eep!', snapping out an offended "Keep your clothes on! What do you think you're doing?"
Sora paused, halfway through the process of pulling his boxers off, looking back to Roxas, a patronizing expression on his face, as if he was trying to explain something to a rather stupid animal or small child. "Well duh, Roxas! We're going skinnydipping!"
At hearing this, pure panic gripped Roxas like an icy hand of death. Attempting to make one last, spectacular break for freedom, Roxas tried to bolt back to his tent, only to be stopped by Axel grabbing him by the back of his shirt, causing the blonde to comically choke and snap back, like a dog trying to run off but forgetting that it's leash was tied to something. Damnation!
"Where do you think you're going, Rrrrroxas?" Axel asked, grinning down at him. Obviously the redhead didn't care one way or the other for Sora's 'late night adventure' plans, but instead just took immense pleasure in seeing Roxas in compromising and embarrassing situations. The sadistic bastard! Roxas's mind quipped irritatedly.
"Like hell I'm getting naked and swimming around in a freezing cold lake in the middle of the night." Roxas snapped in explanation. Overhearing this, Sora looked hurt.
"You mean you don't want to?" the brunette pouted.
"Of course I – " Roxas began, but cut himself short at the look Sora was giving him. Curse that kid and his irresistible pouty puppy face! How did Sora manage to come up with a look that could render even the most coldhearted bastard completely guilt-tripped and willing to comply to his every whim? No wonder he was able to get Riku – whose hair, although girly, seemed to have more sense than Sora's brain – to go along with all of his stupid and/or wild ideas most all the time.
"Fine." Roxas huffed, heaving a sigh, and Sora happily clapped, tearing off his last remaining article of clothing and leaping into the water with a whoop. Riku stared after him as the brunette surfaced, tossing his hair back and sending sparkling drops of water flying in the moonlight. Turning to Roxas, Riku offered a "He looks kinda like Pocahontas when he's all wet like that." before stripping off his clothing and proceeding to join Sora in the water without any more explanation.
Slightly disturbed at this comparison (and trying to avoid looking at Riku or Sora), Roxas wrapped his arms over his chest, rubbing his arms. He really didn't want to do this. Having to deal with his friends naked was one thing, but Roxas was very insecure about his own body. Maybe he could just wait until everyone wasn't paying attention, and then he could just sneak off back to the –
"What'cha waiting for, Roxie?"
Turning around, Roxas saw that Axel was grinning at him in a mocking manner. Oh, he knew exactly what Roxas was waiting for; he just wanted to bug him about it. Roxas glared at him.
"Aw, don't tell me Roxie is embarrassed that everyone is going to see his dangly bits?"
Blushing at this, Roxas snapped back a quick response that came off as a little too defensive to be completely true. "I am not! I just… uh… I just think it's a stupid idea."
"Uh huh, yeah, sure." Axel smirked back, patting Roxas in a patronizing manner. "It's okay if you're embarrassed by your thingamasquig, Roxie. We're not here to judge."
Roxas flushed even darker at this, both in embarrassment and predictable anger at the implications of Axel's statement. Was Axel trying to imply that Roxas's manhood was not up to snuff? Oh no he dih'nt! Roxas was bout to snap out an overexaggerated contradiction to these implications when Sora ran up to them, totally disregarding the fact that he was completely naked.
"Come on guys, get in, what are you waiting for?"
Roxas dearly wanted to say 'For you to put some clothes back on', but refrained, instead choosing to look anywhere but at Sora. Oh look, he'd never noticed that particular tree before. And that rock was looking quite… rockish in the moonlight.
"Don't worry, we'll be there in a sec." Axel answered, and Sora, satisfied with that answer, scampered back off into the water. Axel then turned back to Roxas, making sure he had the blonde's full attention before hooking a finger in the waistband of his pants, pulling them down an inch or so. Roxas found his gaze drifting inappropriately low, staring at the newly exposed skin, before he realized what he was doing, jerking his eyes back up to look at Axel's face. Axel smirked down at him, and when he spoke he had lost the teasing quality to his tone, his voice much deeper and slower and… definitely notseductive! Roxas's brain told him.
"Come on, Roxas… what are you waiting for?"
"Uh… I'm just… uh…" Roxas stuttered out, embarrassed. "Why is everyone so anxious to see me without any clothes on?!" To this, Axel gave Roxas a very disconcerting leer, and the blonde suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable and scrutinized. "Um, okay, ew." Roxas continued. "I'm gonna go get naked somewhere else, you pervert." As loosely as he said the words, Roxas was still more than a little unnerved at catching Axel looking at him like that. The redhead had almost looked like he wasn't doing it as a joke…
Hahaha, but that's just stupid. Roxas's brain reassured him as he walked off along the edge of the lake, trying to find somewhere nice and secluded and preferably with the cover of lots and lots of brush for him to get undressed behind. It's stupid because I'm a guy, and Axel's a FREAKY guy, and that's just weird and wrong and definitely not something I want to think about. Just like the whole Sora/Riku thing.
…Mmm… Axel/Roxas…
"WRONG!!!" Roxas said aloud, clutching his head and scrunching his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the mental images he was getting to accompany that unbidden train of thought. "God, brain, what's wrong with you?"
Still grumbling to himself, Roxas slipped behind a bush at the lake's edge, tugging his shirt up and over his head before tossing it aside and making sure it landed out of the water. Looking around to make sure no one (a.k.a. AXEL!), had decided to spy on him Roxas quickly made work of his shoes, socks and pants, tossing them on top of his shirt.
Standing at the lake's edge in only his boxers, Roxas surveyed the area. He could see that Sora and Riku were messing around a little ways off, splashing and wrestling in the freezing cold water the same as they had been earlier that afternoon. Except now they were… well… not wearing anything. All of a sudden Riku dunked under the water, not resurfacing.
"Hahahahaha…aha…ha?… Riku?" Sora inquired, having been in the middle of laughing at something when Riku suddenly disappeared. "Riku?" Roxas could hear him saying as he turned around, looking for his friend. "Riku, where'd you go?"
The water where Sora was standing was dark, but from where Roxas was the moonlight hit the water at the perfect angle that allowed him to have a nearly perfect view at what was happening underneath its surface. And right now he could see that Riku had ducked under the water, only to swim around behind Sora, obviously intending to surprise and startle him by sneaking up on the confused brunette.
"Heh, heh, heh..." Roxas smirked to himself, evily. Oh, this was gonna be good. Finally Sora was going to be the one getting an unpleasant surprise and be the one screaming like a girl, instead of Roxas. Heck, he was manlier than Sora, the silly little brunette was probably going to make more of an embarrassing spectacle of himself than Roxas had. Ahahahaha! Roxas couldn't wait.
Suddenly Riku made his move, lunging forward out of the water and attacking Sora. Here it comes… wait for it… Roxas's mind smugly told him. As Riku yanked Sora down the brunette's mouth opened wide and he let forth a mighty…
…stream of giggles.
"Heeheeheehee, RIKU! Haha, don't do that!" Sora happily tee-hee'd. Roxas's jaw dropped. What the hell? Sora was supposed to be squealing like a stuck pig, not giggling like a schoolgirl! Granted, that was still a very pansy-like response, but nowhere near as embarrassing as Roxas's shrill cries of utter terror whenever Axel –
Axel…
Axel was nowhere to be seen.
Taking this as an ominous sign and suddenly feeling very paranoid about being alone in the bushes, Roxas took a deep, calming breath before finally removing his last, precious article of clothing. Looking from side to side and trying to cover himself as much as possible, Roxas stepped up to the water's edge, planning on silently slipping in and making his way over to where Sora and Riku were – there was safety in numbers, after all – and was about waist deep when a dark patch of water suddenly exploded right next to him, something hurtling itself at him from it's (not extremely impressive) depths, crashing into him and taking him down for the count.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH–mlph!!!"
Coughing up the water he had swallowed as he surfaced, Roxas glanced around wildly, trying to locate his attacker (although he had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew who it was. Someone whose name started with an 'A' and ended in an 'xel'.)
Suddenly Roxas was hit from the side again, although this time he kept from getting dunked under the water. A flash of violently red hair assaulted his vision, and with a growl Roxas thrashed back against the person who was seemingly attempting to wrestle him down into the water.
"Axel, what the fuck are you doing?" Roxas shouted, his voice cracking a little in his panicked anxiety as he tried to get away. "Trying to drown me?"
"Ahaha, little Roxie is all naked and vulnerable to attack…" Axel snerked, attempting to grab the struggling Roxas around the waist and drag him back.
"ARGH! Axel! You pervert! Get off me!" Roxas demanded, wildly thrashing as he was pulled back against Axel's chest.
"Haha, no way." Axel growled back. "The innocent little Roxas strayed too far into the big, scary lake, and now the lake monster is going to eat him alive!"
Scowling at Axel's annoying use of speaking of himself in third person, Roxas attempted to squirm out of the redhead's hold. "Come on, Axel, cut it out, let me go." He repeated, struggling in Axel's arms, flailing against the taller male's…
…very… naked…body.
"AXEL!" Roxas breathlessly gasped, voice cracking in an embarrassing manner as he writhed, now above and beyond desperate. "Axel, let me go right now! Do you realize we're both totally naked right now?!"
In an instant all motion stilled. Roxas took this to mean that Axel had finally realized the immense awkwardness of the situation, and was frozen, trying to comprehend the circumstances and get out of them as quickly and painlessly as possible. For both their sakes.
Of course, Roxas had forgotten to take into account that this was Axel, and therefore, he was a dense freak of nature.
"… so?"
"GRAH!" Roxas burst, in response to Axel's seemingly oblivious reply. "We. Are. NAKED!" he reiterated. "And you're grabbing me, and in my struggles to get away we are being forced into extremely close contact! I don't know about YOU, you filthy pervert, but to me that is just AWKWARD."
Axel actually had the audacity to laugh at this.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Roxas snapped back, renewing his struggling efforts while at the same time attempting to make as little contact with Axel as possible.
"Ahaha… Roxas… hahaha…" Axel gasped between buts of laughter. "Man, you must really love it in that stuffy little closet of yours."
It took a moment for Roxas's confused brain to process this, but when it finally did, the result was not a pleasant one. "WHAT?! GOD, AXEL, FOR THE LAST TIME – I. AM. NOT. GAY!"
"Whatever you say, Roxas." Axel said with a chuckle. "But de Nile ain't just a river in Egypt." To punctuate this, Axel leaned forward to give Roxas's ear a quick nip before finally letting go and heading over to where Sora and Riku were still splashing around, somehow oblivious to the encounter that had just taken place between the other two members of the group.
Roxas stood there in shock for another minute, trying to process what had just happened, and what on earth Axel had meant by his parting comment. What did the Nile have to do with Roxas not being gay? The Nile… de Nile… de…nial…
Suddenly it clicked.
"AXEL!!" Roxas shouted, making his way over to the group and fully intending on drowning that fiery-haired annoyance. "I AM NOT IN FUCKING DENIAL!"
.o.O.o.
… "not in denial". Oh yeah, I'm so sure. XD
Sorry this chapter was a little bit shorter than usual, it was actually supposed to be a part of the last chapter, but I decided to break it up otherwise it would have been WAAAY to long.
In other news, I don't think I'm going to get the posting of this thing finished up by the end of the year. It'd just be too much in too short of a time frame. Oh wells. But rest assured, steady updates will still keep a'comin' for all you who follow this cracktacular piece of writing!
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter (hee hee, naked XD) and I hope everyone has a great holiday season! Happy Christmahanukwanzaka!