It didn't take Roxas very long to abandon the whole praying thing. Regardless of what his prayers were, they were never answered. Even the little ones, like having a good night's rest or fifteen extra minutes without Axel or Xigbar around couldn't come true. After a while, the blonde figured that if you wanted something to get done and get done right, you just had to do it yourself.
They moved into February with no word from his parents. Xigbar, after the first month, was visibly stressed out. He complained that Axel had said that he would get money soon, and Axel argued that Xigbar had never really specified what "soon" was. Either way, Roxas was still stuck with the two of them and his parents still had their hands on the $500k that would free him.
March came and went, and so did April. Each day starting the day that Roxas had decided to give up on this whole God thing, he sank deeper and deeper into a depressed numbness that only served to further alienate him from society. Axel was getting pissed of that his captive wasn't doing anything useful; just moping around all day. At the same time, he was curious as to what had happened to the defiant teen that he had been forced to take care for almost a year.
When and if Roxas got out of bed, it was because Axel forced him to. Even then it was usually late in the afternoon; the blonde's hair was a complete mess, his pajamas twisted around every which way. After several attempts and making Roxas part of the world of the living again, the redhead gave up and only tried to get Roxas up to shower and to eat.
There was even a decline in his intake of food. Roxas ate, but he only ate a little snack about every three days. It wasn't because Axel wouldn't let him, either. He just felt extremely nauseous every time he was around food, and would usually end up running to the bathroom until the feeling passed and he would climb back into bed. Standing only 5'4" at age fourteen, the blonde's weight had dropped to a dangerous 78 lbs.
Around May, Axel decided that he had had enough of sad, poor rejected Roxas. The depression had been going on for three months straight, and it wasn't even fun to torment the kid anymore because all he did was assume that he had done something to deserve it and stumble slowly back to bed.
"Alright, kid." He said, grabbed Roxas's shirt, and hauled him out of bed. "You're getting up and getting right with the world. I don't care how bad you feel for yourself."
"Does getting right with the world mean you're going to let me go?" Roxas murmured as he was tossed into the living room, crossing his arms as soon as he gained his balance.
"No, of course not." Axel replied like the answer should have been obvious. He had no idea how to react to the teen anymore; he went from hating Axel to letting Axel fuck him to being so depressed that he could barely get out of bed. Whatever the hell that it, it wasn't teenage syndrome or whatever it was called.
"Then I'm not interested."
"Well, that's too bad for you. I'm going to make you interested. Here," He tossed Roxas a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that he had swiped from the closet earlier, and they landed on the floor in front of the blonde. "Get dressed. I'm going to make you breakfast, and you're going to eat all of it."
Roxas sighed. "Yeah, whatever."
Axel sighed and walked into the kitchen, grabbed the bacon and eggs out of the fridge and started cooking them up. Only halfway through the bacon did he notice Xigbar sitting at the small table in the room, looking into the living room.
"What's wrong with your hostage?" He asked, that pedophilic concern coloring his face. Axel glared at him for a moment before turning the bacon, dishing the eggs.
"I think he's finally reached stage four."
"Stage four?"
Axel shrugged. "Ever heard of the five stages of grief, dude? You know, denial and stuff, then he gets all mad and shit, then he starts bargaining with God, and now he's all depressed and stuff. You follow?"
"Um, not really." Xigbar stood up with his coffee cup and started towards the living room, but the redhead quickly blocked his path.
"You're not going in there to 'cheer him up,' so forget it."
Xigbar tried to give his partner in crime (literally) the most innocent expression he could manage, raising his hands in defense. "What if the kid needs someone to talk to or something? He could be in a really dark place right now, for all we know."
"If he needs someone to talk to, he'll talk to me." Axel replied shortly, finishing up the bacon and putting it on a plate with the eggs. "I asked you to come here so that I wouldn't have to stay cooped up in this goddamn place for the rest of forever. But Xigbar, I so swear. If you ever lay a finger on that kid--"
"Man, someone's no good at sharing." Xigbar interrupted, sulking back over to the table. "I was just going to say hi."
"Like hell you were." Axel grabbed the orange juice and poured a glass for the captive, opting to ignore the sharing comment. Its what you get for hiring a pedo…He thought, shook his head, and took the small meal into the living room.
"Alright, kid. Here's your breakfast…" Axel trailed off and glanced around the living room, not seeing the familiar shock of blonde hair anywhere. He groaned and set the food on the coffee table by the couch, walked purposefully into the bedroom.
There, he found Roxas, surprise surprise, curled up in a ball on the bed. He had the blankets pulled up to his chin and his face was buried in a pillow, and the redhead swore he could hear quiet sobs coming from his tiny body.
"Roxas…" He groaned, walked over to the side of the bed, and sat down next to his hostage. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" The blonde choked out, and he glanced up at Axel with tears streaming from his eyes. "Go away."
"No." He frowned and moved to place a hand on Roxas's shoulder before hesitating, deciding the best of it, and replaced his hand on the edge of the bed. "You're going to eat."
"No I'm not."
"Damn it Roxas, I'm not going to let you kill yourself just because you've finally come to the realization that your parents value $500,000 more than they value you." He growled. Roxas recoiled as though the words physically hurt him, and tears gushed from his eyes.
"You bastard!" He yelled at Axel, raised a hand to slap the redhead which Axel easily caught. "You have no idea what you're talking about! But then again, how the hell can a heartless kidnapper rapist like you ever understand what it's like to love someone?"
Axel glared at Roxas and picked him up from the wrist, and the blonde let out a cry of pain. "I'm sorry, does that hurt?" He hissed.
Roxas fell out of bed and landed flat on his bottom, and Axel dragged him from the bedroom and into the living room, deposited him on the couch. Xigbar had come rushing out of the kitchen as soon as he heard Roxas struggling and watched Axel in horror, as though he had just tortured a kitten.
"You're not moving until you clear that plate and drain the glass." He said to Roxas, his voice low and dangerous. "I so swear, if you move even an inch, I'll make sure you won't be able to walk for the next three days. Got it memorized?"
Roxas looked up at the redhead in horror, the emotional pain that he was feeling written all over his face. Axel watched him, his expression cold as ever. However, after a moment or two he faltered and shook his head, strode into the kitchen without a word.
The blonde looked at Xigbar, who was watching Roxas like the poor kitten that had been tortured, and turned his attention to the food in front of him. It was still hot, and the smell of the bacon was making his mouth water (the smell of the eggs made him want to throw up). Slowly, hesitantly, he picked up the fork and shoveled the breakfast into his mouth.
--
Axel had completely cooled down around six that night. Earlier, he had sent Xigbar to the store with a list of things that they needed, his excuse being that he wanted to stay at the house to make sure that the blonde wasn't depressed and raped while he was gone.
He emerged from the kitchen to find the TV on, Roxas looking out the window with a blank expression on his face, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. The redhead walked over to him and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, his expression having gone from cold to uncharacteristically soft.
Roxas paid him no mind, instead the reality of his parents not loving him running through his mind over and over again. He couldn't believe that they hadn't even contacted America's Most Wanted yet; watching the show on Saturdays at eight o'clock (central standard time) had become a sort of religion for them, and not once had he seen Axel's face or his own on the screen.
"What's today?" He whispered to Axel, his voice raspy. Axel glanced at him in surprise, having not expected Roxas to say anything, and blinked.
"Um…Saturday. America's Most Wanted is on tonight."
Roxas nodded, and another sound didn't escape him. Axel watched him for a few moments before he turned his attention back to the TV, hardly paying attention to what was going on.
--
Around seven, Roxas started to wonder idly why Xigbar hadn't come back yet. The list didn't have that many things on it, and the store was only about twenty minutes away from their rental home.
"Where's your friend?" He asked softly, glanced away from the window for the first time in hours to look at Axel.
"He's probably molesting some little boy." Axel responded. Roxas thought for a moment that he was trying to be funny, but based on how grave his expression was that thought was quickly dismissed. "The store is right next to the school, and there's an after-school choir meeting today. I assume that's where he is."
"How would you know that?"
"They sent a flier home in the paper." Axel responded. He glanced up from the screen of his laptop to look at Roxas, then glanced back down, then snorted.
The blonde blinked, his interest piqued. After hours of telling himself that his parents didn't love him, he was begging for something to take his mind off of that subject.
"What?"
"The wiki article says that you shouldn't try to help someone who is experiencing the fourth stage of grief." He answered, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "I say, to hell with that."
"'To hell with that'?" Roxas asked softly. "What are you going to do? Get me a therapist to tell me that its not my fault mommy and daddy hate me?"
"Mm, I was thinking something maybe a little more practical." Axel answered, grinning. He placed his open laptop on the coffee table and leaned forward, so close to the blonde that Roxas could feel the breeze every time he exhaled.
"What was it you had in mind?" He asked, gulping. Axel chuckled and leaned forward a little more, placed a hand gently on Roxas's as he brushed their lips together.
"I'm sorry if I hurt your wrist." He breathed, and before Roxas could reply he pressed their lips together in a soft, gentle kiss. It didn't last very long, but the second it was over he went in for another.
By the third kiss, Roxas was used to the sensation of Axel's lips actually being gentle against his (for once) and didn't mind it when the redhead tried to extend the length of their contact for a few seconds.
When Axel pulled away, he backed up only a few centimeters from Roxas. He was grinning and opened his eyes slowly, cupped Roxas's cheek. "Feel better?"
"Uhm…" Roxas, too, opened his eyes and blinked a few times. "If by better you mean epically confused, then yes. I feel a lot better."
Axel chuckled and kissed Roxas quickly again, still smiling. "I told you that you would be given time to warm up to me. I'm just giving you some help."
"This is very unlike you." Roxas muttered.
"Would you prefer that I beat you into submission?" Axel asked, pursing his lips together in a straight line. Immediately Roxas shook his head 'no,' eyes wide.
"That's what I thought." Axel chuckled and nuzzled Roxas's neck, purring softly. "If you're wondering why I'm having a sudden change of heart, let's just say that I'm not very good at sharing what's mine."
Roxas swallowed loudly and did his best to relax against the couch, the task proving to be much harder than it sounds. "Are you talking about Xigbar?"
"Yeah, I'm talking about Xigbar. I don't really like all of the sympathy he feels for you. Or how much he feels it's necessary to be there to comfort you when you're upset like this." Axel frowned, sighed and sat up, giving Roxas a calculating look.
"Do you think I should fire him?"
Roxas opened his mouth to reply, blinked, and closed his mouth. "Why are you asking me?"
Axel shrugged. "The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable while I'm trying to get you to go all Stockholm on me. So say the word and he's gone. Unless he starts to make you feel uncomfortable after you've fallen in love with me. In which case he'll probably stay."
Roxas blinked. "That made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever."
"Same here." Axel paused for a moment before clearing his throat and changing the channel to fox, where America's Most Wanted was about to start. "Just um…lay low until you've actually fallen in love with me, okay?"
"What makes you think I'm going to fall in love with you?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow. Despite how much he didn't want to admit it, the small amount of desire that Axel had shown toward him felt really, really good.
"Because you're starved for affection, and I'm the only one who can give it to you." Axel smiled sweetly, and patted Roxas foot gently. "If your parents keep up this trend, you're going to have more than enough time to realize that I'm the only one who cares about you, even if its only a little."
Before Roxas had a chance to retort, John Walsh flashed on the screen along with the rest of the opening sequence for AMW. In keeping with their Saturday night ritual, they both fell silent and watched as criminals' faces were flashed on the screen, each holding their breath to see Axel's would be among them.
A/N: This chapter was short and weird and I don't really like it. xD But whatever. I think you guise might like the end. I like the end. ^^ Axel's getting all cute and nice. And Xigbar's a pervert. xDD Well anyway. Hope you like it! There're gonna be like, a TON more chapters, because there's a lot of different things I wanna do with this fic. So...yeah. Enjoy!
~Sara