Summary: "Can't you just be there for the family for once?" Alternative Universe, College setting. Oh, and it's slash. Don't like? I suggest you don't read it. Kthx.
Pairing: AkuRoku, because that's what was wished for!
Warning: What? No. Nothing graphic, I hate to disappoint everyone who waited for a sex scene.
Disclaimer: And why would I even want to own SquareEnix' and Disney's characters...? Psychotic fans of the Kingdom Hearts series would be out for my blood...
Dedication: For my lovely muse, kotilo – This was supposed to be a birthday present, but of course it wasn't even nearly finished for her birthday. Knowing me, it might not even be finished until the next one… I hope you still enjoy it, love!
"So? What are you waiting for?" was Roxas' reply, and Axel couldn't help a violent shudder when Roxas' soft lips brushed against his own briefly. "Take me."
And who was Axel to refuse such an order?
Family Bonds – Chapter 5
Roxas was a heavy sleeper, Axel mused the next morning. He had watched the blond sleep since the rising sun had woken him. Roxas hadn't stirred once; he was just breathing slowly, and… he looked like an angel.
Not at all like last night.
Axel didn't know how to feel about it. He smirked when he thought about what had happened. Roxas had been gentle at first; he had taken it slow and had done everything to make Axel feel comfortable. He hadn't taken the initiative, but had coaxed Axel to take one step after another, until Axel had lost all doubts.
Axel could remember every detail; how he had pinned Roxas to the wall next to the front door, how they had stumbled to the bedroom while kissing each other senseless, and how Roxas had slowly undressed him; all the while teasing him with touches and whispers and moans. He had watched Roxas strip for him, sitting on the bed, his hands clenched around the sheets to keep him from grabbing Roxas and interrupting the show the blond had been giving him.
He remembered slightly tanned skin in the moonlight, Roxas' eyes shining brighter than ever. He remembered how utterly perfect the younger man had been; Roxas was nowhere near being feminine, but very athletic; and yet Axel, who had never before considered being with a man like this, had wanted him so badly this very moment.
He remembered Roxas sitting on his lap, grinding against him tentatively. He remembered more kisses and whispers and moans in the dark. He remembered the feeling of skin on skin and skilled lips and hands that had stimulated parts of his body Axel hadn't even known to be so sensitive. He remembered the heat, the passion, he remembered how Roxas had looked, sitting on him, eyes closed in bliss while he rode Axel relentlessly…
Just thinking about it made Axel feel… bothered again.
It felt so strange. He had thought he would freak out after waking up next to a guy, but the only thing he had felt was… a cautious, still somewhat unsure kind of happiness, if that made any sense at all.
He smiled, his eyes resting on the two earrings (one had a black square on it, the other a white one) for a second before they traced the outlines of Roxas' serene face for what had to be the thousandth time this morning.
He could get accustomed to that sight in the morning, Axel thought. But just when he had gathered the courage to lean down and wake Roxas with a kiss, he was interrupted… by a cheerful song that suddenly filled the room. The music came from somewhere in the heap of clothes over there…
Axel froze for a moment, and the man next to him woke up with a surprised groan, burying his pretty face in his pillow before blinking up to Axel confused. Roxas seemed not amused about being woken at first, but soon a sleepy grin spread all over his face.
"Is that 'Under the Sea'?" he chuckled and yawned, closing his eyes again.
Axel nodded distractedly and crawled to the far end of the bed, throwing their clothes through the room as he searched for his pants. He found them, surprised that the caller hadn't given up already, and pulled out his ringing phone. He flicked it open quickly, not bothering to look at the display. He knew who the caller was.
"Hey, Squirt," he said softly. That Reno hadn't given up sooner wasn't a good sign. Something had happened…
"Axey!" Reno cried out at the other end of the line. His shaking voice just confirmed Axel's suspicions. Something was very, very wrong…
"What's wrong?" Axel asked concerned while searching for his clothes and starting to get dressed.
"Come home!" Reno screamed into the phone. He sounded scared. "Why is no one here? Come home, pwease…"
"Reno, where are you?" Axel interrupted him, trying to keep his voice steady to calm the child down. Inwardly he was panicking.
"Youw apa… apat… Youw house!" Reno wailed, and hiccups soon threatened to drown out the words. The boy was crying, Axel could tell. "Mommy told Eric-daddy to bwing me here, but Axey isn't here, and Eric-daddy left and said Axey would be here soon but I'm scawed…"
"You are… you are at my apartment? Alone?" Axel repeated horrified. Reno didn't answer, just sobbed into the phone, again begging Axel to come home. Axel pulled up his jeans with one hand, fumbling around for his shirt frantically. "It's okay, Squirt, it's okay… Don't be scared, shhh…"
A hand held out his shirt for him, and Axel looked up to find Roxas frowning at him.
"Is something wrong?" the blond asked gently, and for a moment Axel was lost for words. How should he explain? Reno was waiting for him, there wasn't enough time to explain his complicated relationship to his sister and his nephew to Roxas…
"Axey, I'm scawed!" Reno screamed again, and Axel just grabbed his shirt without looking at Roxas, jumping from the bed and fleeing the room while pulling it on without buttoning it up. He grabbed his coat and slipped into his boots on his way out, ignoring Roxas calling out for him, but concentrating on Reno.
"Reno? Listen to me! Reno?" he said loudly, slamming the door to Roxas' apartment shut behind himself and hurrying down the stairs. "I'm coming, okay? You don't have to be scared, I'll be right there. Okay? Stay where you are, and don't talk to anybody! Do you understand?"
"Y-Yo…" Reno sniffed, and Axel's heart broke when he heard the boy break out in tears again. He continued to speak soothing words into the phone while running down the street. He thanked all gods he could think of that Twilight Town was so small. It only took him ten minutes to reach his apartment. Already at the front door he could hear loud wailing from both the stairs and his phone, and he rushed upstairs, snapping the phone shut as he ran. From above a loud gasp interrupted the crying, only to be followed by even louder, more helpless sobs.
Cursing his stupidity Axel reached his floor, only to be met by a small crowd in front of his door. Some of his neighbors seemed to have noticed Reno and were staring at the crying boy curled up in front of the apartment door.
Axel pushed through the crowd, rushing to the boy's side.
"Reno," he gasped, completely out of breath from running the whole way here. He stuffed his phone into his coat and reached out to embrace the crying child. But Reno was even faster; at the sound of Axel's voice his head snapped up, and with a loud cry he leapt into Axel's waiting arms, clinging to his uncle as if his life depended on it. Axel hugged him and rocked him gently, kissing the top of his head and whispering soothing nonsense to him. He felt tears prickling at the corners of his own eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
"I'm here, Reno, I'm here," Axel whispered and kissed the boy's forehead, stroking his back soothingly. Reno's thin arms closed around his neck, and the boy seemed to try to crawl under his coat, still sobbing loudly into Axel's shoulder. His little body was shaking, and he stammered something inarticulate.
Axel slowly rose from the floor, still holding the boy close. He quickly looked around, spotting the boy's small duffel bag and shifting Reno so he could hold him with one hand and grab the bag with the other. Without paying the whispering neighbors any heed he unlocked his door and stepped into his apartment, dropping the bag in the hallway and kicking the door closed while still rocking Reno gently to calm him down.
It took him more than two hours of walking up and down the room, all the while cradling the crying boy to his chest and repeating calming words, until Reno at least calmed down enough to tell him what had happened. Reno refused to let go of him, his small hands fisting in Axel's shirt with surprising strength. Hesitantly he explained that 'Eric-daddy' had brought him here because Reno's mother had asked him to. Apparently she had needed a babysitter again, but hadn't been able to contact Axel (not very surprising, since he hadn't given her his new number). So she had told Eric to bring the boy here, but when the man had found Axel's place empty, he had just left the boy there, assuming Axel would be home soon. Reno hadn't dared to give Eric Axel's new number, since he had promised Axel not to give it away. But as soon as Eric had been gone, he had called Axel himself.
Axel didn't even want to think about what could have happened to Reno. He was glad he had saved his number in Reno's cell phone on speed-dial and had shown the boy how to call him. It had originally been a joke; he had always thought it was ridiculous to give such a small child their own phone, but Reno had memorized how to call him. Axel thanked the gods for making the boy so smart, and to his relief Reno's face lit up at his praise at least a little bit. The constant stream of tears also lessened quickly.
Reno told him Eric had left a letter for Axel in the duffel bag, but he didn't dare to let go of Axel yet. So Axel had to carry him back to the hallway and had to search the bag with one hand, until he found said letter. He sat down in the living room, Reno sitting in his lap and huddling up to him.
If possible, his strong aversion to his sister's new lover even intensified as he read the hastily scribbled lines. Basically, it told him what Reno had said; but Eric even had had the nerve to explain he had left Reno at Axel's doorstep because of a dentist appointment. He asked Axel to take care of Reno for the weekend, stating he and the boy's mother would pick him up on Sunday again.
Axel crumpled the letter and threw it into a corner, careful not to show how much the letter had angered him. Instead he smiled and asked Reno if he wanted ice cream, and all anger melted away at Reno's happy squeal. All the tears seemed forgotten, but Reno refused to leave his safe place in Axel's arms. Axel was forced to carry him around all day, and Reno refused to sit anywhere else but on Axel's lap. They played some games Reno had brought with him, watched TV until Axel's head hurt from all the happy-go-lucky children's songs, and they painted many pictures everywhere in the apartment. They ate more ice cream after lunch, which pretty much consisted of some ready-made noodles Axel heated in the microwave. He couldn't possibly prepare lunch with a three-year-old clinging to him like that, and when he tried to put Reno down, the small redhead immediately started to whimper and cry.
But all the crying also exhausted the small boy, and around six in the afternoon, his eyes started to droop during one of his favorite shows. Axel gently took the bowl of ice cream out of his small hands and put it on a nearby table. Reno protested sleepily, but let himself be carried over to the bathroom and made ready for bed.
But he didn't want to let go of Axel when he tucked Reno into his bed. Two small hands closed around Axel's hand and held him back, along with a pleading look on the child's small face.
"Don't go away," Reno pleaded, again at the brink of tears as it seemed. Axel sighed and sat on the bed, gently stroking Reno's fire-red hair.
"I'm right here," Axel replied quietly, smiling at the boy.
"Dun leave me alone," Reno insisted fearfully, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. "The Hawtless…"
"I'll make them go away," Axel promised, gently caressing the boy's cheek.
It took him a moment to remember the song. It was a tune his own mother had often sung when he had been a child himself, and it saddened him to realize he couldn't remember his mother's face along with the song. It was so hard to recall her smile, her eyes, her hair, because he had seen her so rarely the last years before she had died. He knew what she had looked like when she had lived through her last days in the hospital, but he couldn't recall her not being sick and weak and fragile. He had been a terrible son…
But he could at least be a good uncle, he decided, and he could go and search for one of the pictures of his mother he owned later. So he sang for Reno, to chase the Heartless away. He wasn't nearly as good as his mother or even his sister, the famous singer, but apparently his clear voice was enough for Reno, who quickly relaxed in Axel's arms. He didn't react anymore when Axel placed him under the covers and gently tucked him in, all the while singing on about a little mermaid, who lived under the sea…
Before Ariel had chosen to release this tune as one of her songs, Axel had really liked it. It had been a treasured memory, but Ariel had made something else out of it; something he didn't like. It wasn't her fault, it had probably been her producers who had urged her to make the song more interesting, but in Axel's opinion it wasn't a song for the masses. It was a quiet tune, a tune a mother should sing to her child to lull it to sleep.
Reno was fast asleep before Axel could even finish the first verse. Axel smiled, kissed the boy's forehead once more and left the room as quietly as possible, leaving Reno just with the light of a small bedside lamp.
He paced through his apartment restlessly, ignoring his hurting arms and back. He thought about calling his sister and yelling at her for being so irresponsible, but decided against it; she would have his new number then. Or he could hunt down Eric to beat him up for leaving Reno alone, but he didn't know where that guy was. And he couldn't leave Reno alone anyway.
After a while, after he had watched the beautiful sunset over the city for what seemed like an eternity, he shot up from his brooding.
He had an exam on Monday! An exam he hadn't studied for yet… and it was already Saturday evening!
He hurried to the small room where he had stored his textbooks and stuff, frantically searching for the right book. He found it and skimmed through it, quickly checking how much he would have to learn. His face fell at the sheer amount of information about architecture he would have to stuff into his head in less than a day, because he would have to take care of Reno most of the next day as well…
He marched back to the living room, the textbook in one, a notebook in the other hand, and flopped down onto the couch, opening the notebook and preparing to take notes from the textbook… but soon he found himself unable to do that, because the words didn't seem to make sense at all… And then he came across a picture of a white and black checkered pattern, as it was commonly used in Wonderland architecture.
Damn. Somehow he had managed to keep Roxas banned from his mind for the whole day, but this picture reminded him strongly of the blond. He couldn't help it, all Roxas wore seemed to consist of black and white fabric. And there was that checkered wristband he often wore, and…
Roxas. He had left him without a word of explanation, after spending the night… He felt dirty, like he had used the younger man and simply dropped him like one of the cheap hussies back in Radiant Garden… It wasn't like that, it had been a case of emergency, but… but he hadn't told Roxas. He hadn't explained anything. Roxas probably thought… or he…
Axel groaned loudly, pressing the balls of his hands against his eyes until angry red and black spots started to bloom, then ran both hands through his hair. Roxas probably didn't want to see him anymore after his unexplained and sudden getaway. He hadn't even called or tried to apologize…
As hard as Axel tried to ban every thought about Roxas from his mind and concentrate on his studies, he was reminded of Roxas all the time. Angry blue eyes haunted him until the words and pictures in the textbook blurred in front of his weary eyes. He was exhausted from taking care of Reno all day, and he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night; he dozed off more than once, until he couldn't fight sleep any longer. He was asleep before his head touched the fabric of the couch, the notebook sliding from his limp hands and falling to the floor.
Quick Note: Really, really late update.
Nope, I'm not dead. Not really alive either, at least not writing-wise. Sorry. There's just too much stuff going on, and none of it is helping against my terrible writer's block.
Sorry, folks. 'Specially everyone who's been waiting for a new chapter of Perfect Match since... months? I'm working on it, but please don't ask when it will be done.