Roxas awoke to the sound of Axel typing away on his laptop, groaned, and buried his face in his pillow. "Can't you put that thing away?"
Axel glared at him briefly before turning his gaze back to the computer screen. "No, I can't. And guess what? You have Stockholm syndrome. But that's okay, because I think I might have Lima syndrome."
Roxas sat up and raised an eyebrow. "Stockholm syndrome I'm familiar with, Lima syndrome I'm not. Care to explain?"
"It's when captors feel sympathy for their victims." The redhead answered shortly, closed his laptop, and turned to face Roxas. "I don't feel sympathy for you, but I think a strong, unmotivated desire for your love counts. Would you agree?"
"Mm…I think so." Roxas looked up at Axel and smiled, who couldn't help but smile back before he glanced at the clock.
"You know, you're getting into this habit of sleeping in pretty late." Axel murmured, frowning. "Not really sure how that happened…"
"I think its because of your Lima syndrome." Roxas said. "You love me so much that you don't have the heart to get me out of bed."
"Oh, yeah." Axel replied, rolling his eyes. "That must be it."
"What time is it, anyway?" Roxas asked. He leaned over Axel to glance at the clock, and noticed that it was almost noon. "Oh…"
"Oh is right." Axel placed a hand on the top of Roxas's head and ruffled his hair, and in response the blonde snorted. "Its getting late. Poor Xigbar is probably so lonely. And I'm starving."
"Xigbar is fine, and you'll be okay for another half an hour." Roxas crawled all the way into his captor's lap and curled up against his chest, enjoying the abnormal warmth that radiating from his bare chest.
"Good Lord, Roxas." Axel murmured. "You hated me yesterday, you love me today…what's next?"
"You're going to come home and find me screwing Xigbar." The blonde answered matter-of-factly. This was met with an incredulous look from Axel, who immediately wrapped his arms possessively around Roxas.
"Roxas--"
"Relax, I'm kidding." Roxas chucked and rested his head on Axel's shoulder, humming contentedly. "And, just so you know, I'm not in love with you. I'm identifying with you. There's a difference."
"And what would that difference be?"
Roxas shrugged as best he could. "Well, because my life currently depends on the decisions you make right now, I'm doing the first thing that I can think of that will save my life. It's pretty much completely subconscious. But, if it makes you feel any better," Roxas smiled and kissed the underside of Axel's jaw gently. "There's so much dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, and serotonin flowing around in my brain that I'm under the illusion that I love you. So even if I really don't, my brain is tricking me into thinking that I do."
Axel blinked down at Roxas, his expression blank. "Roxas, how old are you?"
"Fifteen."
The redhead nodded. "Right…okay…how do you know all this shit?"
Roxas chuckled and nuzzled Axel's neck, grinning. "I go to Lexington Preparatory School for Boys. I passed an exam that qualified me for college level classes. I would bet money that I know twice as much as you do."
"You're so cocky." Axel practically spat, his arms tightening a little too tightly around Roxas.
"Hey, relax." The blonde squirmed a little to give himself more room. "I bet you didn't know what chemicals induced feelings of love."
"I bet you don't know how to kidnap a fourteen-year-old boy without any witnesses." Axel smirked and Roxas swallowed loudly and moved the boy off of his lap. "Now get up. I'm fucking starving."
"You use terrible language. You know that, right?" Roxas slid out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts, not bothering to check to see if they were clean or not, and moved into the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair.
"What makes you think I care?"
"You're not doing a very good job of convincing me to fall in love with you with that attitude of yours."
"Oh, you're fine." Axel walked into the living room to find Xigbar watching TV with a crestfallen expression, and raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?"
"You're so lucky…" Xigbar sighed, turning his head slowly and sadly towards Axel. "You've got a beautiful young man who loves you…I'm so jealous…"
"Don't worry, bro." Axel said, moving into the kitchen. "He doesn't really love me. His brain his just doing some shit with chemicals and what not that makes him think he loves me."
"It doesn't matter…" His partner sighed. "At least he doesn't…fight you."
"Maybe you should try kidnapping some of the loves of your life. If they're around you long enough, they're bound to start liking you eventually." Axel laughed and re-emerged from the kitchen, peanut butter and jelly sandwich in hand.
Xigbar shrugged, and not soon after Roxas was walking out of the bedroom, hair combed and teeth brushed. If only his clothes were pressed. "What's on the agenda for today?"
"Same thing as every day." Axel answered. "The TV is the same place it's always been, I just bought you a book, and there's food in the kitchen. Take your pick."
Roxas groaned softly and trudged over to the couch, started watching whatever it was that Xigbar was watching. Not too far behind was Axel, sitting far closer to the blonde than he usually did, earning him an envious glare from Xigbar.
--
Roxas had fallen asleep sometime around six, because Family Guy was coming on Fox and Axel was really excited to watch it. He didn't remember much before or after the redhead's spaz attack, but when he woke up, his head was on Axel's lap and Axel's arm was resting comfortably on his hip.
"Uh God…" He murmured as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"
"About nine." Axel replied immediately, watching the blonde with a sort of amused smirk. "Nice hair."
Roxas made a soft 'pfft' sound before running a hand through his hair in a vain attempt to make it look a little neater. After encountering three knots, however, he gave up on the idea.
"Did you have fun while I was asleep?" He murmured sleepily.
"No. I missed you like crazy." Axel rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to the TV. "Roxas, you fell on my lap like, two minutes after you passed out. It was adorable. Of course I had fun."
"What'd you do? Take a picture and put it on Facebook?" Roxas chuckled and rubbed his eyes again, finally clearing his vision and blinking at Axel.
"Oh, you're funny." He smiled and glance at Roxas, who pouted.
"Yeah, whatever. Um, I'm kinda hungry." He glanced down at his abdomen, his stomach growling loudly. He had finally gained back the weight that he had lost, and after Axel had saved him from depression they were both more than eager to contribute to his weight gain.
"Yeah, okay. What do you want?" Axel muted the TV, something he never did, and stood up to walk to the kitchen.
"Can I have like, ramen?" Roxas laughed. "Its really good."
"Yeah, and its also all you've been eating for the last two weeks." He fished through some of the cabinets before sighing and walking back out into the living room. "We ran out, so I'm going to have to run to the store."
"Why can't Xigbar do it?"
"He's sleeping."
"You trust him alone with me?" Roxas raised his eyebrows and glanced into the bedroom quickly before turning his gaze back to Axel.
"You should be fine. I had a…discussion with him while you were asleep." He smiled pleasantly; the kind of smile that told Roxas that he had done something bad but probably wasn't going to talk about it.
"Oh. Okay. Will you be back soon?"
"I don't know. The traffic here is so weird…I have to go like, to the next town to go shopping, too. I think people here are starting to recognize me." He shrugged and walked over, patted Roxas on the head. "I'll be back soon enough. No worries."
"Okay. Drive safe." The blonde looked up and smiled, Axel smiled back at him, and in a moment was out the door.
Roxas contented himself with TV for about twenty minutes afterwards, looked around the room for a little while, and finally decided that there would be no harm in playing with Axel's laptop.
"Good game of hearts for the first time in over a year, Roxas." He said to himself, pulling up the screen and frowning when he remembered that the portable was password protected.
He tried quite a few things, from his name to his school's name to Axel's name. However, when he finally got the word that unlocked it, his mouth fell agape in shock.
--
There were two old women staring at him and whispering. He wasn't paranoid, it was really happening. Axel smiled politely and walked over to them, the package of ramen under his arm.
"Can I help you ladies?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. One of them shook her head 'no,' but the other one smiled at him and stepped forward.
"'Ello. Actually, I though' I remembah seein' you on the tele." Her old English accent made Axel want to run home and listen to Roxas's perfect grammar and college-level vocabulary, but he just stood there and smiled.
"Really? I can't imagine what for."
"Yeah, yeah. It was dis show, ya see. I though'…an' I might be wrong…but I though' you was on that…America's Mos' Wan'ed?" She smiled a smile that immediately wiped the redhead's away. She was old, yes. Her lower-class accent was enough to let Axel know. But she was definitely with it.
"Well, like I said, I can't imagine what for." He tried to keep his expression tight and controlled. He had seen America's Most Wanted the previous Saturday, and he hadn't been on it. Nor had Reno.
…Right?
"Well, dis ol' mind could very well be wron'." She chuckled and stepped back to her friend. "I cert'nly am sorry."
"Oh, don't worry. Its really no big deal." Axel chuckled as well before he turned around and walked back over to his stolen car, trying to think of as many reasons as he could not to panic; an action that proved far easier said than done.
--
"Roxas, I'm back!" He called, opening the door. "Sorry, but they only had the two pack of ramen at the store. I wasn't sure how much you wanted, so I only got one. If that's not enough I can run back…" The end of his sentence fell into the air between them as he saw Roxas staring disbelievingly at the screen of his laptop, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Axel," He read, and his voice was shaky. "Sorry I haven't been able to get back to you. I've been really busy. To answer your question, yeah, I can baby-sit him. Just tell me this; is there going to be something in it for me more than money, if you know what I mean? Xigbar."
"Oh shit…" Axel groaned, dropped the grocery bag and walking slowly over to the blonde. "Roxas, those emails--"
"Xigbar," The blonde continued as though he hadn't even heard his captor, choking a little as he kept reading. "You can get whatever the hell you want. You know I've always been good at sharing. I just have to warn you; I plucked the kid, so if he has half a brain he's going to be loyal to me. Don't try to steal him for your own goddamn ransom or anything stupid like that."
Axel opened his mouth, searching his brain for some valid excuse. However, when the little blonde glanced up at him, the hurt and confusion clearly written all over his face, the only thing that was on the redhead's mind was the massive fallout this would have.
"How come…" Roxas said softly, his tone surprisingly strong and unfaltering. "How come you preach about how much you want me, and how much you want me to love you, yet you were completely willing to whore me out to your friends?"
"Roxas, that email was written forever ago." Axel walked over to him, but stopped a few feet away. "I mean, so much has happened since then…"
Roxas swallowed hard and clicked on something Axel couldn't see. "Facebook update, dated three days ago, under the name Axel Schmidt. Things are going really well. I wish someone could've seen the way this kid broke down when his mom broke the news that she wasn't ever planning on getting him back. It was almost pathetic. Good thing I was there to comfort him."
Roxas took a deep, shuddering breath and glanced up at Axel slowly. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe that you actually cared about me."
Axel shook his head and closed the space between the two of them, grabbed his laptop off of Roxas's lap, placed a hand on the blonde's knee. "Roxas, don't say that. You must have--"
"Misinterpreted?" Roxas whispered, raising his eyebrows. "Read it wrong? Didn't understand? Would you care to explain it to me, Axel?"
"I…" He sighed, shook his head. "I can't, but--"
"Of course you can't." Roxas breathed, shook his head. "Get your hands off of me."
"Rox--"
"Get your hands off of me." Roxas growled as he stood up, tears still streaming from his eyes, and headed toward the bedroom. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to think that someone like you could actually love me."
"Roxas." Axel stood up quickly and made a grab for his captive's hand, but it was quickly snatched away from him.
"I'm going to bed." Roxas said, his voice low. Axel couldn't be sure, but he thought that his voice was shaking as well. "Xigbar got up a half an hour ago and he's in the kitchen."
"Rox, come on. At least give me a chance to apologize." He grabbed the blonde's shoulders and turned him around, giving him a desperate, pleading look. When Roxas fixed him with blank look in response with hurt clearly written in his eyes, something occurred to him; Roxas was his hostage, and this shouldn't hurt as much as it did.
"Let go of me." The blonde said softly. Axel released his shoulders immediately, and Roxas walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Only when he heard the redhead's footsteps let him know that he was walking away did he let the sob that had been threatening to tear from his throat finally break free.
A/N: This chapter made me cry! D8 I'm like, totally serious. I'm sitting here writting this, and my people are looking at my like, 'What the fuck?' xDD It was terrible. I was so sad. FAIR WARNING! The next...I dunno...maybe five chapters are going to be really sad. Or at least four. I think I might have one from Axel's point of view, which will be only a little sad. But the ones from Roxas's point of view are going to be freaking depressing.
Also, I propose a contest. The first person who reviews this story in the new year will recieve a free request from me. ;D Just leave the same review that you normally would, but put your email address at the end of it. You'll know you won when I email you asking what you want. xDD I hope you guise don't hate me for making this sad. But it had to be done. It'll get so much better so soon. I PROMISE!
*huggles*
~Sara