"You have…ee-le-ven…new…messages." The recorded voice said, and Zexion frowned into the receiver. Eleven messages in five days? Insane.
"First message. 'Zexy, it's me. Please come home. I miss you so much. I know it hasn't been that long, but I need you, Zexion. Demyx is gone. He's not coming back. Just…please.'
"Next message. 'Zexy, come on. I know you're mad but…can't we talk about this? What I wouldn't give to hear your voice right now. It's so lonely without you here. Please call me back.'
"Next message. 'Zexion, call me! Why aren't you answering my calls? What are you doing with that greedy whore Roxas? I know about the relationship you two used to have…I'm worried about you, Zexy. Truly.'"
"What a wacko." Zexion muttered, pressing '7' for the third time, erasing the third message. "Eleven messages? Good God…" He sighed and put the phone back up against his ear, sighing.
"Next message. 'Zexion, I don't know how else to get you back. I've tried everything…are you just trying to tease me to make our reunion that much more sweet? Please, Zexy…I've been dreaming about you, thinking about you, thinking about fucking you--'"
"End of message." Zexion said, quickly pulling the phone away and pressing '7' once more. He snapped the phone shut and placed it on the blow-up mattress he was seated on, pinching the bridge of his nose and exhaling slowly.
"Hey." Roxas's familiar voice rang throughout the silence of the room, and the bluenette glanced up, a smile reluctantly creeping onto his face.
"Hey."
"What's doin'?" Roxas asked, throwing himself down on the bed and looking up at his friend from one of the squishy down pillows. "You look like you're having a blast."
"Oh, totally." Zexion answered, rolling his eyes. "I was just listening to some of the eleven messages that Lexaeus left me. In the last four to five days, mind you. I shudder to think what's going to happen to him without me."
"I shudder to think what's going to happen to you without him." Roxas muttered, glancing out the window.
"What's that?"
"I'm serious." The blonde sat up and looked at Zexion seriously for what had to be the first time in about a year, half concern and half anger in his eyes. "I mean, I hate the guy, but I know how much you like him. And I also know that you can only keep up this, 'I'm okay and I don't care.' act for so long before you completely implode and die. Which would really suck. If you want to play hard to get, I totally get that. Or hard to get back, rather. But don't like…kill yourself in the process, okay?"
Zexion blinked and opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "Where is Roxas and what have you done with him?"
"I'm just saying, Zexion." Roxas said, standing up and heading to the door. "You can stay here as long as you have to. You know my mom won't care. But I just…" He sighed and shrugged. "I don't want you to self-destruct like I did."
--
"Where the hell have you been?" Roxas barked, throwing his bag on the ground in the dance studio and glaring at the redhead from the doorway. It was interesting, the little differences that Axel and Reno shared. For example, after three days of having to greet Reno's ugly, not-nearly-as-sexy-as-Axel's face, the obvious difference in their postures. Or the fact that while Reno paced in boredom in the room, Axel stood there just kind of staring at the wall. Weirdo.
The redhead spun around and frowned at Roxas, arms crossed. "It's nice to see you too, Roxas. I've been fine, thanks. Yourself?"
"Answer the damn question." Roxas retorted. "I've had to deal with your stupid brother for the last three days, who's even creepier than you are and yes, it's possible…you'd better have a damn good excuse. Because not only have you completely neglected my fragile state of being, but completely failed to realize that I have things going on in my life outside of you! Stop being so full of yourself. God."
Axel blinked and nodded slowly, folding his arms behind his back and walking a few paces toward his student. "Right. I'll pretend that actually made sense. And for your information, I've been sick with the flu for the last three days. Believe me, if there had been an alternative, I would've found it. Sadly, Reno was the only solution."
Roxas paused, slightly dumbfounded (he honestly hadn't expected Axel to have such a good not to mention believable excuse) and opened his mouth to speak a few times before any sound actually came out. "…Oh."
"Yes, oh." Axel said, smiling. "Now why don't you tell me why you're in such a good mood while you stretch." Sarcasm was dripping from his voice, but Roxas walked in and bent over and touched his toes, sighing.
"Okay, so, my best friend was going out with our English teacher, right?"
"Sounds like Maury."
"Don't interrupt."
Axel snorted and pushed Roxas down a little further, the adjustment barely registering with the blonde. "Okay, continue."
"So he was going out with our English teacher. So then, they get in this huge fight, right? So my friend goes to his, my teacher's, apartment the other day, and he sees one of our worst enemies in LaLa High School Land walking around the apartment wearing my friend's favorite post-fuck shirt that belongs to my English teacher." Roxas straightened up and crossed his arms, Axel looking at him with his eyebrows raised.
"So my friend, his name is Zexion, calls me up, right? And he tells me all of this and I'm like well you can come stay at my place. And so he did, and we were hanging out and all this great crap. Not one day after they broke up, he got three dozen roses and two pounds of chocolate. Two pounds, Axel! Do you have any idea how torturous it was to watch him eat it?" Roxas crossed his arms and stood there, shaking his head. "And it's annoying."
Axel stood there for a moment, considering all of this. Finally, he sucked in a deep breath and opened his mouth. "You know, I think that's the first time you've actually addressed me by my name since I've known you."
"What? No it isn't. But you're completely missing the point."
"No, no. I got the point." Axel smiled and shrugged. "It's okay if you don't want to admit it. I completely understand. I'm just saying."
"Stop it. I've called you by your name before." Roxas uncrossed his arms and his posture screamed that now he was on the defensive, honestly questioning whether or not Axel was right. Come to think of it, he only really used the redhead's name when he was talking about the dancer to other people…never really to his face.
"I don't doubt that you have. I just don't recall ever hearing you actually, physically say my name before. But then again, I'm an old man. I have a terrible memory, y'know?" He grinned and walked around Roxas to his other side, leading him to the center of the room. "We're doing your favorite run, jump, land exercise again today, by the way."
"That's great. So. You're like, the love doctor. Have any advice?" Roxas stopped about twenty to thirty feet away from Axel, arms crossed again, chewing on his lower lip compulsively.
"Since when am I the love doctor? And, no, I don't have any advice. But it doesn't help that you're not telling me the whole truth, either."
"What do you mean 'not telling you the whole truth'?" Roxas barked, snapping to attention immediately. "I've told you more than I've told my mother! Not that she hasn't figured it out already…"
"You didn't tell me that you're sleeping with him." Axel pointed out, wrapping tape around his hands and clapping them together loudly. "That's something that I think is kind of relevant."
"What? What are you talking about? How did you--" Roxas cut himself off, not going to finish the sentence (he was already sabotaging any chance he would've had with Axel, anyway) and just standing, waiting for the unfinished question to be answered.
"Roxas, Lexaeus is my friend, remember? He called me and told me the whole story like…yesterday or something. And just so you know, he doesn't really like you." Axel shrugged, and Roxas could've sworn that he saw the redhead's demeanor change. "But we've already wasted a half an hour talking about this. Let's get going."
"But--"
"Not buts."
"But--!"
"I said no buts. Let's go."
--
"You're what?" The blonde Russian shouted, his accent barely audible now. "What the hell did you just say?"
"I told you." The smaller of the two blondes answered, hands placed protectively over her slightly swollen belly. "I'm pregnant."
"Jesus Christ, Claire!" He yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration. "How the hell did this happen? How the hell could you let this happen?"
"It happened the same way every other pregnancy occurs." She replied, her voice venom. Her face reflected how bitter she felt, and her slight, teenage shoulders were hunched over defensively. "We had sex, and you decided it would be far more fun if you didn't use a condom. And you know I can't go buy the pill without my parents knowing." She paused and sucked in a deep breath, shaking her head. "I thought you would be happy."
"Happy? How could I be fucking happy!" He screamed at her. "I've got my whole life ahead of me! Like hell I'm going to go to jail for some slut who can't even manage to rake in a couple hundred making and honest living."
"You said you loved me!" She yelled back at him, hands becoming fists at her sides, angry tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "You don't try to make prostitutes of people you love, dearest. Sorry to be the one to break the news to you."
"What can I say, Claire?" He asked innocently, shrugging his shoulders. "I love a lot of women. I'm a loving kind of guy."
"You're a pimp and you're a liar." She hissed. "And now you can add rapist to your list. I hope you're happy."
"Hey, don't you go accusing me of something I didn't do. You were plenty willing."
"It's called statutory, lover boy." She said. "I'm fifteen and you're twenty-eight, and that's nice and illegal. And I'm sure that the New York State Police are going to have fun collaring you for all of the shit that you've been responsible for since you illegally came to America."
"You little bitch!" He yelled, charging her. "Why don't I just beat that baby out of you? Then all this trouble would go away."
"Like hell you will." Claire looked up as the familiar figure of her father stepped in front of her, two policemen on either side of him. "If you lay a finger on my daughter, I'll kill you myself."
The blonde shook his head, laughing, stepping back towards the door. "Never take me alive, bitches."
With that he bolted out the open front door, the two cops close behind him, leaving Claire and her father. He turned around and placed his hands on her shoulders, smiling down at her softly. Lovingly. "Are you okay?" He whispered in Russian, and she just nodded slowly.
"Don't worry, love." Her mother said, coming through the doorway from the other room and sliding an arm around her daughter's waist. "We're going to take care of you, and the little guy. Or girl, for that matter. Everything's going to be okay."
Claire sighed and nodded, closing her eyes. "Yeah, I know. Especially if he gets killed."
"Claire! Why on Earth would you say something like that?" Her mother gasped, stepping away.
"Because," The blonde answered softly, smiling. "I'm the main beneficiary for his five million dollar life insurance policy."
--
"I don't like him like that, you know." Roxas whispered. He and Axel were seated on the floor together, and Axel's fingers were working magic on the blonde's ankle, which he had somehow managed to twist (not his bad ankle, no worries).
"Who?"
"Zexion. He's just my friend. I mean, there are some benefits to our "friendship," but it's not like it's anything serious. We're just friends."
"Oh. That's good, I suppose."
"Plus, it wouldn't matter, anyway."
"Oh? Why is that?" Axel glanced up and smiled and Roxas, patting his ankle softly. The blonde drew his knees up to his chest and shrugged, not wanting to meet Axel's gaze but finding that he couldn't look anywhere but at the questioning green eyes.
"Because there's someone else." His voice was barely above a whisper, but he knew Axel heard him. Either it was the look on his eyes or the set of his jaw that gave Roxas away, but Axel saw it. He saw right through the façade that his student had been keeping up.
"…Oh?"
Roxas didn't have to answer, because soon enough (almost too soon, actually) Axel's lips were mere centimeters from his own, a smile playing on his lips. "Are you telling me the truth, Roxas?"
Roxas drew in a sharp breath and nodded slowly, and almost immediately in response he felt his teacher's soft lips pressed against his own in a gentle kiss that quickly became heated and passionate.
"Mmaffl." He murmured, pressing their lips tighter together. However, it was short lived as the redhead pulled away slightly, grinning.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"It's mumblese for 'Axel.'" Roxas answered, frowning. "Duh. Everyone knows that."
"Oh, yes, of course." The redhead responded, leaning forward again. "Everyone…"
Lips locked, curious hands roaming over doubly as curious bodies. The pleasure and satisfaction that Roxas found in just kissing Axel was overwhelming, and he couldn't even imagine what it would be like to sleep with the guy. He would, in all likelihood, die of happiness.
Axel's tongue prodded at his lower lip impatiently, demanding entrance to Roxas's mouth. Entrance that Roxas was, of course, more than happy to grant. Everything felt so foreign to Roxas, from the feeling of Axel's tongue greedily exploring his mouth or that of the redhead's hands exploring his body. Not only was he not used to being topped, but all of this…Axel was a new, delicious kind of strange.
"Hah…Axel." He gasped, reaching for air as Axel's lips moved across his cheek and up his jaw, over to his ear.
He could feel Axel's demanding tongue circling the shell of his ear teasingly, playing with the lobe. "Mm…that's so nice." Roxas whispered, eyes drifting shut. He could've laid there forever, Axel on top of him, showing him these simple pleasures that he never knew existed.
He could've, but he didn't. Because at that given moment, his phone went off. He recognized the ringtone immediately; Zexion calling. Of course, Zexion only called the blonde's cell in absolute, undeniable emergencies…
"Oh shit." Roxas sat straight up and dislodged Axel, who looked mildly irritated.
"You're phone?"
"Yes."
"Ignore it." He started to push Roxas back down on the floor, but Roxas resisted, glancing at his bag.
"I don't know. It could be something really important."
"What we're doing right now is really important."
Roxas bit his lower lip and started staring at his bag, and at that moment a few things ran through his mind. First, if it was Zexion's definition of an emergency, it had to be pretty important. Second, Zexion had been his best friend for years. Roxas had known Axel for…eight months? Lastly, the one thing that he distinctly remember his mother saying about Axel: Hell, he's older than I am.
"I'm sorry, Axel." Roxas whispered, standing up, and pulling his phone out of his bag. "I can't do this."
"Wait, what?" Axel asked, standing up immediately and staring at Roxas, who was halfway down the hallway and listening to Zexion speak incredibly fast and incoherently. "What do you mean, can't do this? Can't do what?"
"I'm sorry!" Roxas called. With that he pushed the double glass doors open, the sting of rejection that Axel was probably feeling burning in the back of his throat. The doors closed behind him, and Roxas glanced back at the tall building for what he thought would be the last time.
A/N: Okay! I know what you guys are thinking right now. Right now you're thinking, 'Jesus Christ. She makes us wait this long for a freaking update, and then she sticks us with THIS ending? You've gotta be kidding!'
I know how you feel! But no worries, I'll fix it. I'll make it alllllll better in about two chapters or so. Plus an epilogue (I love epilogues ;D). And I'm so sorry this update took so long! We're starting to study for dumb retarded state tests at my school, and they're sucking up like, all of my time. I still have that request I need to finish...agh. I'm dying. xDDD
But anyway. For those of you who still like me and actually read this, I love you. You're awesome. ;D And for Xanjen, (who I know is grounded but whatevs) GET ON FREAKING G-CHAT OR WHATEVER THE HELL ITS CALLED. I need some inspiration, girl! I'm dying here! DYING!
Love yas. ;D
~Sara