June 20th
"Doctor?" A tall redhead poked her head through the office door, her bangs falling in her face. "There's someone here who says that they need to see you immediately."
"Do they have an appointment?" The blonde asked, not even looking up from his rigorous typing to ask the question. One hand was moving furiously along the keyboard, the other holding a cup of coffee that was cooled down to cold about two hours ago.
"No but…he says it's very important that he sees you."
"Well you're just going to tell him that he's going to have to schedule an appointment." The blonde replied. "I don't have time for random visits. Three of the Porter family are going to be here in ten minutes, and I'm going to have to tell them that their daughter is no longer in remission."
"But Doctor…" She sighed and stepped in the room, closing the door behind her. "Roxas, he looks kind of desperate. I mean, he says he thinks he might have cancer…"
"Then apparently he didn't read the plaque on the front door that read, Roxas DuPont: Pediatric Oncologist. It's not my fault that he's illiterate. Tell him to make an appointment."
The redhead nodded and sighed, walking back out into the hallway. Faintly, Roxas could hear her saying 'Sorry sir, you're going to have to schedule an appointment…' but all thoughts of that were banished as a young, five-year-old girl and her two parents walked into his office.
She eagerly sat herself down on one of the plush chairs that was placed in there, and her parents hovered behind her. "Good afternoon, Doctor." Her father muttered, nodding.
Roxas smiled. "Good afternoon. How is everyone today?" He made a point to look at the girl, who was smiling and bouncing up and down on the squishy chair, clutching the little stuffed bear that Roxas had given her months ago.
"Good." She answered, looking at her parents, who just smiled nervously.
"So…how's everything looking?" Her mother asked, picking the girl up and sitting her on her lap, her father sitting down in the second plush chair. "Will she be able to go back to school?"
Roxas's smile didn't falter for a second, but he was sure that the words that were forming on his lips caused a little part of him to die inside. "Actually, I wanted to talk about that…"
He saw both of the Porter parents' smiles falter before Mom shook her head and raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I'm not quite sure what you mean about that. Certainly it's not…?"
Roxas let his smile fade and leaned forward, sighing. "It seems…well, we did another biopsy after the surgery and the chemo to make sure that there were no more cancerous cells." He said. "We took several blood tests, and, from what we saw, there were no more cells."
"Right." Dad chipped in, nodding. "You said that she was in remission and should be able to go back to school soon. Right?"
Roxas nodded. "Right, but the thing with cancer is…well, with your daughter's particular type of cancer, it's become resistant to many of the forms of treatment that we've tried. So that means that if we missed even one or two cells during the surgery or if the chemo didn't get some, then they would be free to multiply until we noticed the same symptoms."
"…Right." Mom said. "I don't see what the problem is."
"Well, the problem is…" Roxas put his coffee cup down, which he just noticed he was still holding in his hand, and folded his hands under his chin with a sigh. "We missed some. I don't know how, but we did. And when you called in," He indicated Mom, who looked like someone had just shattered her world. "And told us about some new symptoms that had arisen--"
"No." She muttered. "No, Doctor, Roxas--"
"Larxene, I'm sorry." He sighed and looked between his old friend and her knew husband and their daughter, his eyes sad. "But at this stage, given the type of cancer it is…I'm sorry."
Tears were welling up in both of the parents' eyes, and the child was looking between them with a look of pure confusion on her face. "But Roxas," Larxene finally breathed. "You're the best of the best. There's got to be something you can do!"
Roxas just sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Finally Dad spoke up, clearing his throat a few times to save himself from the embarrassment of his voice cracking or breaking. "How long?"
The blonde shrugged. "Three, maybe six months at the most."
Both parents absolutely broke down, the girl looking between them with even more confusion than before. She looked frantically at Roxas to know what was going on, then frantically at her parents to try to find an answer there.
August 18th
The blonde combed his hands through his hair, another soft sob tearing through his chest, tears streaming down his eyes. His cardigan was all over the place, his pants were askew and his hair was a mess.
His therapist, who's slate grey-blue hair was picture perfect, his clothes as angular as though they had just come from the dry cleaner's, just watched him patiently, legs crossed, hands folded underneath his chin.
"I mean…" He shuddered, closing his eyes. "Zexion, have you ever had to tell someone that their little, five-year-old girl wasn't going to live to see her sixth birthday? And a close friend, nonetheless?"
The bluenette shook his head. "No, I haven't. However, I have had to deal with the aftermath of such a thing. And generally I get to see what you don't have the stamina to handle."
"Yeah, that makes me feel really good." Roxas said sarcastically. "What a pair we are. I'm here to tell them that their child is going to die, and you're here to help them get over it because I can't deal with it. Yay for us."
Zexion sighed and tossed his clipboard to the side, having not written anything on it for Roxas's last five or six sessions. "Let's change the subject. How's your personal life going?"
"The same it's been going for the last eleven years." Roxas said, a little more sharply than he hand intended. "Reno's going to be released in nine years. Assuming he doesn't get an appeal. Which he won't."
"And what of Reno's twin?" Zexion asked gently. "Anything about him?"
Roxas laughed humorlessly. "You ask as though you don't already know the answer." The blonde stopped talking for a short moment before he continued. "It's the same as it's always been. Compulsively checking the tabloids, my email, the mail from my old house address…"
"And?"
"The same as it was last week, love." Roxas said, chuckling. "But he hasn't felt it necessary to contact me once in the last eleven years, so I don't know why he should start now."
"I think you're being unfairly cynical." Zexion muttered. He removed his reading glasses and rubbed his temples, glanced at the clock.
"I thought you hate him." Roxas asked. He raised and eyebrow and sat back up, leaning against the back of the overly padded chair he was sitting in.
"I do. But I also hate seeing you upset. And being this cynical is upsetting you. Therefore, I have to weigh which one I hate more, which would be the latter, so I can temporarily forget how much I hate him to try to make you feel better." He smiled and Roxas and cleared his throat, leaned forward. "Sorry Rox, but you're time is up."
"Oh. Damn." Roxas, too, glanced at the clock, noticing that it was already four in the evening, and stood up. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"
"Of course." Zexion smiled up at his friend from behind his desk yet again, his eyes trying to push Roxas out the door before the inevitable words could exit his lips.
"You're bringing Lexaeus." Roxas sang, grinning just before he passed through the threshold of the door. The bluenette groaned, let his head fall in defeat.
"Why? It'll make him uncomfortable."
"Well it shouldn't." Roxas's bad mood seemed to have passed quickly, his arms crossed like a stubborn child. Which, in retrospect, he was. "It's not like I'm a bitter ex. Just…an ex."
Zexion waved a dismissive hand, and Roxas passed through the doorway, calling as he left, "He'd better be there!"
October 8th
"Alright, Doctor DuPont!" The teacher called, pointing at Roxas. "Introduce yourself to me."
Roxas sighed and cleared his throat, forming the words in his mind. "Hallo. Mein name ist Roxas. Ich bin ein Arzt. Ich freue mich, Sie kennen zu lernen. Sie sprechen Englisch?"
The teacher nodded, glanced at Zexion and Lexaeus, the second of the two looking very uncomfortable in the German class. "Doctor DuPont's friend who's name I can't remember! Tell me what he just said."
Zexion sighed and shook his head, leaning back. "Hello. My name is Roxas. I am a doctor. I am glad to meet you. Do you speak English?"
"Sehr gut! Now, I want you both to get to at least page 150 by next week, because I'm taking my wife on vacation to the Bahamas and I don't have to worry about your lack of knowledge in the German language while I'm there. Get it?"
"Got it." Both of the students muttered, gathering up their German books.
"Good."
December 2nd , 11:30 a.m.
"Doctor?"
"Ja?" Roxas looked up from the charts of his latest patient, grinning. His redheaded secretary chuckled softly at the practiced German words and gestured towards the waiting room.
"That guy is here."
"What guy?"
"The one with the appointment."
Roxas laughed. "Sorry hun, you're going to have to narrow it down for me. Which one of my male patients is in the waiting room who has an appointment coming up…now?"
"He's not one of your patients." She said. "He's the guy who kept coming in here without an appointment until he finally realized that he had to schedule one. So he scheduled it for now."
"I think this might be running into my lunch date with Zexion and his new boyfriend." Roxas said, sighing softly. "What did he schedule it for?"
The secretary blushed softly, clearing her throat. "Prostate exam."
Roxas blinked and leaned back, shrugging. "Alright then. Send him in."
The events that followed those words happened in such a strange sequence that Roxas wasn't really sure what happened first and what happened last. But a few things that he definitely remembered were his secretary calling the man in. Roxas had fixed his gaze on his computer screen and was checking his email for the fifth time that day. He did, however, remember exactly the dialogue that occurred.
As soon as the patient walked into the room, Roxas sighed. "Sir, you are aware that I specialize in the diagnosis of cancer in children, correct?"
"Yeah, I read that on the plaque, thanks." Roxas furrowed his brow, but still didn't look up. There was a suspicious-looking email from his mother, who he hadn't talked to in years, with a suspicious-looking subject. He wanted to open it, but hated being rude to his patient.
"I'm sorry, but if you want I can give you a recommendation to a great oncologist I know--"
"That's fine, thanks." The person muttered. Roxas thought that there was something vaguely familiar about his voice, but the message from his mother was far more interesting than a memory trying to break to the surface of his conscious mind. "I've heard that you're the best of the best."
"I'm very flattered, sir, but--"
"Jesus Christ, Roxas! Will you stop calling me that?"
The blonde's finger froze on the scroll button, his eyes not seeing the screen that they were trained on, his mouth moving to form a perfect 'o.' He daren't turn his head to see who the visitor was; it wasn't possible. If this was a dream, he risked heartache. If it wasn't a dream, his risked heartache. Yet it was all so hard to believe.
"Oh God. I haven't like, put you into shock, have I?" Roxas was vaguely aware of the person walking up to the front of the desk and watching him closely. It took a moment, but the rest of the world finally swam back into view and Roxas remembered that yes, he could control his body.
The blonde felt a soft finger hook under his chin and turn his head to the person he couldn't bear to look at but who he wanted to see so desperately. And, believe it or not, there stood Axel, red, disheveled hair and all. His eyes expression his honest concern, and in them Roxas could see a mirror image of his own shock.
He closed his mouth, gave Axel a quick once-over. If he didn't know that Axel was eleven years older, the only give-away would be the thin, almost imperceptible lines that had formed around the redhead's mouth and forehead. His green eyes still had that same spark, his red hair still unbelievably vivid.
After that everything pretty much turned into a blur. Roxas remembered standing up, he remembered that there had been shouting and cursing and yelling and at one point his secretary had come running in, and he knew that all of it had ended with Axel encircling him tightly in his arms, both of them crying, Roxas delighting in the familiar scent of a long passed lover.
December 2nd, 1:42 p.m.
"Oh God…" Roxas breathed, each memory of the amazing feeling of Axel inside of him having rushed back in a delicious wave of emotion. He tossed his head back, his bangs plastered to his forehead with sweat, his arms pulling tightly against the restraints that held his wrists. "Axel…"
"Mm, Roxy," Axel purred in the blonde's ear, pouting. "You don't make as much noise as you used to."
"The neighbors aren't really into that. Sorry." Roxas breathed, tossing his head back seconds later as Axel found the sweet spot inside him and began abusing it mercilessly. He moaned deeply, nails digging into his palms, Axel's lips teasing the sensitive spot on his neck.
"And you're more experienced." Axel observed, that pout still in place. "Who's loved you other than me?"
"The boyfriend that I had in between--ah!" He broke of mid-sentence and cried out, Axel's hands and lips and teeth and tongue bringing Roxas all sorts of guilty pleasures.
The redhead sighed and chuckled, ceasing teasingly in his thrusting to look at Roxas, who's body was coated in a layer of sweat. His hair was plastered to his forehead, his skin was flushed, his chest was heaving. "I missed you, Roxy."
"Why did you wait so long to…come…back?" Roxas asked, sucking in a few deep breathes here and there in an attempt to regain and normal breathing pattern before Axel started up again.
"I was afraid you wouldn't want me anymore." Axel answered, sighing. "But I got over that. Because I missed you too much. And you've been in the news for all the great stuff you do for kids with cancer. I guess I just wanted to stake my claim once more."
Roxas chuckled and looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head. "You really haven't changed a bit, have you?"
"Mm, not at all." Axel started up with his hips again, pushing himself as deeply into Roxas as either of their bodies would allow, ecstasy consuming the both of them.
It didn't take very long before all conversation had ceased and the only sounds that could be heard were those of both of them panting, Roxas moaning, along with the bed frame (he had a Tempurpedic mattress so there were no springs that could moan along with them as well).
Roxas had tossed his head back, raw pleasure coursing through his veins, Axel's name constantly on his lips. The redhead, too, seemed to be enjoying this just as much as his little lover; he grunted with each of the rough thrusts, moaning some sort of deep and guttural moan as he came inside of the other, Roxas not too far behind.
December 3rd
Roxas blinked his eyes open and turned over, a smile playing on his lips, only to disappear when he found the other side of the bed empty. Immediately, his mind starting forming a million excuses that sent him back to the frightening place he had been when he was seventeen; Axel was gone, Axel had left him…maybe Axel had never been there in the first place.
He started panicking. He hated the way his heart rate increased, his breathing sped up, his body frantically began searching for the warmth that it had known mere hours before.
Then, before he had a chance to really freak out, he heard something that let him laugh and relax. The quiet flush of his Swedish-made, top-of-the-line toilet, followed by the soft squeaking of the hinges on the door that led to the bathroom. Axel emerged from the room, bruises coloring his bare beck and shoulders and hips, red bite marks on his chest and thighs.
Roxas blushed deeply and sank back into his memory-foam mattress, Axel sliding in next to him, pulling the blonde tightly against his chest. Roxas knew that Axel knew that he was awake, but the redhead didn't say a word. Just held Roxas close to him and let his lover's breathing and heartbeat relax him back into the paralyzing sleep that he had woken up from.
Roxas closed his eyes, perfectly content, his hand sliding up to rest softly on Axel's shoulder. The redhead reached up and held Roxas's hand gently in his own, pressed his face in the shock of blonde hair, cradled Roxas's small body against his toned chest and broad shoulders. And Roxas allowed himself to fall back asleep, knowing as he did that everything would finally be okay.
A/N: I can't believe it's finally over! D8 I mean, it had to end, but this is just sad. xD I'm going to miss getting your awesomesauce reviews, guise! I mean, you guise have to be the best reviewers ever. They're all so nice and stuff...'cept for the flames. But I all but completely forgot about those. But let's talk about the story.
I love the way this ended. I've been thinking about this ending for weeks...and I think I nailed it. ;D I hope you guise agree. I really wanted to make you happy with this one. Ah...I love Axel. xDD He's so cute. And Roxy was all like, 'D i hate you, but i want you to screw me anyway 8D' and...yeah. We love him. xDDD
Next will most likely be the fic where Axel ends up teaching Roxas to dance, so be on the look out for it! The title with either be Checked our Mutuus Attractionis. Whichever. Probably the first one. xDDD But I hope you guise liked that.
Lastly, I have one final contest for everyone who's been following this story. In a few days I'm going to upload, AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT, probably part of the Amber: Vignette, the playlist from this story. Anyone who can guess at least three of Axel's songs and three of Roxas's songs OR six of Roxas's songs gets a free request. You don't have to do both, you can just do either or. So...yeah. I hope you guise liked the story!
Love,
~Sara