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: ... Cuteness. X__X
Disclaimer: ... Do I have to?
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! (Haven't heard from you in ages, BTW. Hope you're okay!)
"Gladly," Axel replied hoarsely. And go on he did; but slow, ever so slow, admiring and caressing every part of Roxas' eager body, worshipping every moan and cry that came from Roxas' lips. He tasted the sweetness of Roxas' mouth and the salty flavor of his skin; he felt the younger man's pulse race beneath his skin when he kissed a path down his throat, felt his muscles jerk and shiver when he touched him everywhere he could; he heard Roxas curse him for teasing him, and moan his name right afterwards; he saw tanned skin glisten with sweat, saw blue eyes closing in bliss and perfect lips parting to whisper his name again, and again, and again, urging him on, pleading, cursing, needy, angry, breathless…
And Axel knew he would never be able to share Roxas with anybody else.
Family Bonds – Chapter 8
Two things were wrong when Axel woke up again: It was way too early for him to wake up, judging how dark it still was outside; and he felt like his arms shouldn't be empty. Which was a bit strange, he admitted that much. Usually he was just fine to wake up to hugging his pillow, but this time he felt like he should be holding something… someone else.
He groaned and turned around to lie on his back, forcing his eyes open. Wait… that wasn't his bedroom…
Hadn't he had this epiphany this week already?
Oh, yes. Reno. Reno was sleeping in his bedroom, and that's why he slept on the couch, and…
He shot up with a loud gasp, eyes wide and his heart racing as he took a quick look around.
No, there was no sign of Roxas anywhere in his living room. And the kitchen was also still dark.
But the scent of cherries and vanilla still lingered on his skin, and it made Axel blush with embarrassment. A quick look under the thin blanket confirmed his suspicion of being naked, and for a terrifying moment he wondered if Reno had heard anything…
But the door to his bedroom was still closed, and the boy hadn't even heard Axel yell at Ariel the night before; and Roxas had made sure he kissed Axel every time one of the two men had grown too vocal during their… activities…
Oh dear… His study had to look like a mess now…
Axel sighed quietly. His eyes had grown accustomed to the dim light quickly, so he decided against turning on the lights when he rose from the couch to stagger to the study on still unsteady feet. One quick look assured him that Roxas was also not in this room, but the smell of cherries, vanilla and sex was overwhelming in here. The smell wasn't even that unpleasant, but still Axel didn't know whether to be appalled or aroused by it. And by the images which suddenly emerged from his still sleepy mind.
Roxas, Roxas, and again Roxas… his pretty, boyish face flushed, his blond hair even more disheveled than usual, his tanned skin looking so pale in the moonlight (after they had knocked down the lamp; Axel winced and prayed Reno hadn't heard that)… Roxas, moving in perfect sync with Axel, his hands holding onto the other man as if he was afraid of letting go… Roxas, biting down on the back of his own hand to keep quiet while Axel pounded into his tight heat…
A little embarrassed Axel closed the door again. Damn, a few weeks ago he had been straight, independent and always in control… and now he started his day with daydreaming about having sex with a man.
To say he was confused would have been the greatest understatement of the fucking millennium!
And to add to his confusion… Roxas wasn't there anymore.
Feeling down and dejected all of sudden, Axel turned to go to the bathroom. He hissed a curse when he turned on the light, which burned like needles in his eyes. A look into the mirror didn't help his bad mood either; the bags under his eyes seemed to compete with his tattoos color-wise, his usually vibrant eyes looked quite as dull and weary as they felt, and his hair was a mess. His whole appearance was a mess, to tell the truth. And to his horror Axel noticed several marks on his pale skin, on his shoulders and around his collar bone; blushing heavily he remembered Roxas making them the night before…
Well, had he really thought Roxas would not want revenge for the bite marks Axel had left all over Roxas' body? But the night before those marks hadn't felt so… violent.
Axel still examined himself in the mirror, narrowing his bright eyes at his too skinny frame, his too pale skin, while thinking at the same time.
He wasn't accustomed to waking up alone, he thought. Usually he had been the one who sneaked out of his girl's bed, but it had never before been the other way around. And it would have felt nice to wake up to Roxas' sleeping face…
He shook his head and ran both hands through his spiky hair, groaning softly.
He didn't understand why Roxas had just left like that! Without saying anything! What did it mean? Hey, it had been Roxas who had seduced him, right? And…
Again he looked at his reflection in the mirror, and he could see his face fall and his eyes widen slightly.
Shit… Hadn't Roxas promised him to take care of Reno? But… Axel didn't even know where the day care he had talked about was, or if he had the time to bring Reno there himself, or…
"Shit…" he whispered, feeling even worse than before. Great. Now he really could forget about his exam.
A quick shower freed him of the cherry vanilla scent, but did nothing to ease his mind. Axel still tried to come up with a way to get to his exam in time, even though he knew he would not be able to come up with a plan this fast. Lost in thought he walked over to the door to his bedroom, only remembering there was supposed to be someone in there when he switched the lights on…
… and froze when his eyes fell onto a very empty bed. His mouth fell open, the quick apology he had wanted to offer Reno for waking him so rudely forgotten.
No Reno. Just a neatly made-up bed, but no sign of a three-year-old boy with hair as red as Axel's own…
But just when Axel was about to freak out, he heard the door to his apartment open and close. And to his indescribable relief he could hear a small child's voice yelling a joyful "Good mowning, Axeeeeeey!" into the apartment.
He whirled around just in time to see Reno bouncing into the living room, dragging a small backpack with him and opening his mouth to say something, but closing it again when he noticed the couch was empty. He looked around, finally noticing Axel at the bedroom door and beaming at his uncle again.
"Axey, look! Woksas gave me a pwesent!" he yelled enthusiastically, tugging the green backpack behind him as he ran over to Axel. He presented it proudly, pouting when he noticed his uncle made no attempt to look at the present. Axel fell to his knees instead, quickly pulling Reno, who squeaked surprised, into a tight hug.
"Where have you been, Reno?" Axel whispered, his voice still shaky from the shock of finding his bed empty, with no trace of his baby nephew.
"You'we all spotty!" Reno chirped cheerfully, ignoring Axel's question and poking one of the very visible hickeys on Axel's neck; the older redhead felt his face heat up until he was sure it matched the color of his hair, but subsiding panic and shock and relief overpowered his embarrassment easily.
"Where have you been, Reno?" he ground out again, his voice now shaking with barely suppressed anger.
"Shopping," the boy answered confused. "Why are you nekkid?"
Axel was aware he was only wearing a towel, but he didn't respond to Reno's question. Instead he grabbed the boy's shoulders and shoved him away to look into his eyes. But before he could scold the child, another voice spoke up at the entrance.
"Yeah, maybe you can live on bread and peanut butter, but I suggest something else for breakfast," Roxas said cheerfully, placing two bags on the TV table and leaving the room again to take off his jacket and shoes. "At least for Reno. Right, Reno?"
"Yo!" Reno shouted enthusiastically, wiggling his way out of Axel's suddenly weakened grasp.
"And now I need a big boy to help me," Roxas exclaimed, picking up the bags again.
"I can help!" Reno replied eagerly, suddenly appearing at Roxas' side. He grabbed the blond man's pant leg with both hands, pulling at it anxiously. "I'm a big boy!"
"Okay," Roxas said, and Axel could see he was fighting to keep his expression serious at Reno's beaming smile. Roxas leaned down a bit, pointing at the TV. "You have to watch Winnie the Pooh for me then. And you have to tell me everything that happens when we have breakfast. Can you do that for me?"
"Sure I caaaaaan!" Reno squealed, hopping onto the couch to sit in front of the TV. He giggled excited when Roxas turned on the TV, but quickly fell silent, nodding along with the theme of the popular show. He seemed to forget about the grown-ups in the room at once.
Roxas gently ran his hand over Reno's bright hair before he walked over to the kitchen door. He gestured for Axel to follow him, and Axel obediently followed.
He watched Roxas pull stuff out of the bags, barely noticing what it was, until Roxas threw him an amused look.
"Not that I mind seeing you naked," Roxas chuckled, grinning when Axel warily grabbed the towel to hold it in place. "But why are you still naked?"
"Because I just came from my shower and nearly had a heart-attack when I noticed Reno wasn't in my room," Axel explained dryly.
"I left you a note at the door, you know," Roxas retorted calmly. "I guess you didn't get that far yet."
"No," Axel said, feeling both relieved and a bit angry at Roxas. Couldn't he leave that note on the TV table next to the couch? That would have saved him some brooding…
"Reno woke me about an hour ago," Roxas continued, turning around to lean against the counter behind him. He smirked when Axel flopped down onto a chair, no longer bothering to hold onto the towel. It slid a bit lower, nearly exposing Axel to the other man in the room. Axel was pleased to see Roxas' eyes flit a bit lower and the younger man bite his lip in that adorable way of his… He almost forgot to be angry.
"So, why didn't you wake me then?" he all but purred, watching amused as Roxas' face took on a rosy hue. Roxas quickly turned around, but not without giving Axel a satisfied smile himself.
"Maybe I hoped for a chance to molest you in your sleep while Reno was eating breakfast," Roxas replied smoothly.
"…what?" Axel breathed not quite as smooth.
"It's pretty easy to confuse you like that, isn't it?" Roxas added, and Axel could hear his teasing grin. "Nah, I just wanted to let you sleep a bit longer. Thought you needed sleep, what with your exam today and all…"
"Right…" Axel sighed.
"So I wanted to make Reno some breakfast, but since there's nothing edible here I took him with me shopping instead," Roxas explained while he started to stack the bought items away. Suddenly he winced and fished something out of his pocket, carelessly throwing it over to the table. Axel reached out and managed to grab the thing before it hit the table. He was surprised when he recognized his own keys.
"I hope you don't mind I took them," Roxas said without looking at him. "Oh, and I bought him that backpack and some stuff for him to survive in Sora's day care."
"Survive?" Axel asked and raised his brows questioningly.
"Well…" Roxas turned to smile at him briefly. "Children here in Twilight Town are easily convinced of liking a new child if you give them enough sugar."
"Sweets, huh?" Axel supposed.
"Sure." Roxas nodded. "Believe it or not, I was a kid myself a long time ago…"
"I bet you were a sweet little boy, weren't you?" Axel said and smiled, leaning forward a little. His smile only widened when Roxas started to laugh, highly amused. He should try to make Roxas laugh more often, Axel thought. He was quite a beautiful sight when he laughed…
"Me? I was a brat!" Roxas corrected him between fits of laughter. "If it hadn't been for Pence and Olette, Hayner and I would probably have been in deep trouble more than once…"
"Oh, come on. What kind of trouble could you possibly get into in this sweet little town?" Axel snorted.
"Let's see, skipping classes, almost failing high school, stealing sweets from the store, skateboarding on the street…" Roxas grinned while he listed his crimes, but his smile widened even more when he added one more. "Almost burning down school."
Axel had to admit he was intrigued now.
"Twice," Roxas added when he noticed Axel's curious expression. Axel couldn't help but grin.
"So? That's nothing," Axel claimed, leaning back again. And again he had to grin when he noticed Roxas' eyes were immediately drawn to his nearly exposed body again. He didn't know why, but he enjoyed those greedy looks. "I nearly burned down every school I was forced into."
"Really," Roxas replied, sounding rather unconvinced.
"I had some trouble with… pyromaniac tendencies when I was younger," Axel explained smirking.
"Really?" Roxas repeated, but now he sounded more interested than before. "And you didn't get caught?"
"Why, I did get caught once or twice," Axel admitted, and he could feel his smile grow colder at the memory. "The first time Daddy, also known as 'High And Mighty Chief Justice Triton Oumono', managed to bail me out of it. The second time…" He shrugged dismissively. "The second time I was sentenced to two months of social work. And a therapy, of course."
"Why couldn't he get you out of that too?" Roxas asked quietly. "You said he was Chief Justice…"
"He didn't even try." Axel looked up to the ceiling. He knew his voice was growing more and more distant the longer he talked about his father, but he couldn't help it. "Said I had to learn my lesson."
"Well…"
"I know he was right," Axel interrupted Roxas' hesitant try to defend his father's actions. "And my punishment wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. But I was fourteen. I just didn't know it better then."
"Okay," Roxas said, and just like that the topic was dropped.
They both stayed silent for a while, until Roxas spoke up again.
"I suggest you get dressed already," he said quietly. "I'll make breakfast, and then we have to go."
Heavenly odors filled the whole apartment only moments later, when Axel returned to the kitchen from his bedroom. He didn't believe his nose at first, only when his eyes delivered the same message to his brain: Pancakes!
Reno was already seated in one of the chairs, sitting on three cushions from the living room and watching Roxas with a grin that threatened to split his little head in half. Axel noticed the boy was wearing one of his old shirts; one of those he used for painting usually. It looked quite funny on the three-year-old, like an oversized night-gown. The table was already set, and maple syrup, chocolate sauce, honey, peanut butter and whipped cream were placed in the middle. Roxas was still busy at the stove, flipping a pancake just when Axel entered the room.
"Sit down," he ordered, and Axel immediately obeyed, still dazed by the mere thought of real breakfast… When had been the last time he had eaten pancakes?
"Look, look!" Reno squealed delighted, fidgeting in his seat. "Axey! Panny-Cakes!"
"Yeah," Axel agreed mesmerized, feeling a grin as wide as Reno's lighting up his face.
"Reno, you remember our deal, right?" Roxas asked sternly when he turned around, one small plate filled with pancakes in his hand. Axel chuckled when he noticed his nephew's face fall.
"Yo," Reno muttered, looking down at the table. "Hav'ta eat healthy stuff."
"Right," Roxas agreed, but the serious expression on his face gave way to a small smile at Reno's cute pout. "You only get two pancakes, and you have to eat fruits afterwards."
"Bleh!" Reno made and struck out his tongue. "Dun like fwuits!"
"But you do like blueberry pancakes, right?" Roxas asked while he put Reno's plate in front of the small boy. Reno stared down at it sadly, the mere mentioning of healthy stuff spoiling the pancakes for him.
"Yo…" he all but sniffed, fidgeting with Axel's t-shirt.
"This is just like it then!" Roxas exclaimed cheerfully and turned around to grab a bowl from the counter to place it next to Reno's plate.
"What's that?" Reno asked, eyeing the bowl suspiciously.
"Blueberries," Roxas answered.
"Noooooo, bluebewies aw in the pancake," Reno protested.
"Nooooo, they are fruits. And they grow on bushes, just like raspberries," Roxas objected while putting some maple syrup onto Reno's pancakes and starting to cut them up into small pieces.
"Noooooooo, raspbewies aw in lemonade!" Reno insisted stubbornly.
"Noooooo, raspberries are berries, so they are fruits. Just like blueberries. And you promised you'd eat fruits," Roxas explained, and Axel had to admire him for staying so calm the whole time. It was like he worked with children all the time…
"But fwuits dun grow on bushes. They come from the su-per-maw-ket!" Reno ranted.
"Oh dear…" Roxas sighed and shook his head.
"Reno, just eat them," Axel finally interfered after watching them argue for a while. As entertaining as that was, he was hungry, and the pancakes were smelling delicious…
"But…" Reno piped up, but Axel shook his head.
"You promised, right?" he asked strictly. "You know you have to keep a promise."
"Alwight," Reno huffed and took one blueberry from the bowl. After examining it for what seemed like a minute, he slowly put it in his mouth, grimacing like he expected it to taste terrible… but slowly his face relaxed visibly, and the frown gave way to a surprised expression. The two men in the room watched as the small boy slowly reached out to grab another handful of the berries and stuffed them into his mouth, of course leaving dark red juice all around his mouth and his small hand. And then, with concentration written all over his small face, Reno took more berries and dropped them onto the pancakes, then grabbed a small piece of berry-covered pancake and stuffed it into his mouth.
"That's not healthy," he finally declared and happily continued munching on his blueberries.
"Do they really count as fruits?" Axel asked quietly when Roxas sat down next to him and placed his dish in front of him.
"Sure," Roxas answered just as quiet. "Full of antioxidants and stuff."
"Why didn't you just put them into the pancakes?"
"Because that's gross. It ruins the whole health factor. Like this, they are at least healthy."
"Yeah, especially in combination with syrup-covered pancakes…"
"You're the one to talk. All he gets when you're making breakfast is peanut butter." Roxas eyed Axel's dish, which had already been added a fair amount of chocolate sauce. "How can you stay so skinny when you eat like that?"
"Good genes?" Axel suggested and took the first bite…
"Why did you sleep wiv Woksas on the couch, Uncle Axel?" Reno suddenly piped up, innocently munching another handful of blueberries.
Axel almost choked on that first bite. He coughed violently, hiding his face in a napkin to hide how red it had just become. Had he heard right? Had Reno really heard them?
"We slept on the couch so you could have the bed, Reno," Roxas explained unblinking and took a sip from something that Axel quickly identified as coffee. Oh… coffee… He remembered his own cup and took a sip to soothe his suddenly raw throat. It didn't help that much, seeing as the damn coffee was still scalding hot.
"And why were you nekkid?" Reno persisted, now looking at Roxas with big, questioning blue eyes. Again Axel had difficulties to keep his coffee down.
"Because it can get very hot when two grown-ups sleep together," Roxas replied grinning. He didn't even have the decency to blush when he said it! Axel groaned and hid his face in his hands. Suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore…
"Oh." Reno nodded understanding. "But next time Axey can sleep together wiv me in the bed. You didn't look very comfy on the couch."
"Oh, I was very comfortable there," Roxas mumbled into his mug.
"Thanks, Squirt," Axel said a bit louder without taking his hands from his face. Rats! He just hoped the boy wouldn't talk about that with his mom…
After the delicious breakfast Axel had to hurry to gather his stuff, while Roxas took care of getting Reno clean. Still recapitulating some of the data he had learned the day before, Axel had to stop for a moment when he threw a quick look into the bathroom; Roxas had somehow managed to get Reno out of the dirty t-shirt without getting any blueberry juice onto Reno's clothes, which was admirable in Axel's opinion, and was just trying to wash Reno's face. The small redhead seemed to have made it his goal for the day to make it as difficult as possible for Roxas, talking and jumping around and shrieking every time the wet washcloth touched his face. Axel chuckled when he noticed hand-shaped smudges of blueberry juice on both of Roxas' cheeks.
Roxas looked up to him, narrowing his big eyes a little. Reno took that as a sign to wrestle himself free and flee the hated washcloth. He almost ran into Axel when he finally decided to help Roxas a little.
"Stop right there, Squirt," he said quietly, looking down at Reno. Reno shrieked, only now noticing his uncle standing in the doorframe. But he stopped, still giggling breathlessly. "Are you being difficult again, Reno?"
"No, he's not," Roxas immediately protested, but Axel silenced him with a stern look.
"Reno?" he asked again, crossing his arms in front of his chest and tapping his fingers against his upper arm.
"'mnot," Reno muttered and pouted, shuffling his left foot.
"Hands away from your clothes," Axel warned him when he noticed Reno was trying to mimic his own stance. "Go and wash them."
"But you havta help," Reno insisted, raising his small hands over his head, as far away from his clothes as he could.
"Sure thing, Squirt," Axel agreed and smiled, careful not to let Reno touch him with his tiny, sticky hands when he picked him up. "Apologize for being difficult, will you?"
"But he wasn't…"
"Sowwee, Woksas!" Reno screamed cheerfully, interrupting the blond man from disagreeing with Axel again. Axel shifted the small boy so he could hold him with one arm, turning on the water and adjusting it to the right temperature with the other before he held Reno so the small boy could reach it. Reno's pink little tongue peeked out between his lips in concentration as he rubbed his small hands under the warm jet of water, only to stretch and reach for the soap. He rinsed them again, proudly showing them to his uncle.
"Face," Axel said calmly, and Reno quickly scrubbed the remaining blueberry juice off his little face with the washcloth Roxas handed him slowly. When Axel deemed him clean enough, he sat down on the rim of the bathtub, sitting Reno on his knee. He took the wet cloth from Reno, carefully removing the last traces of juice. Reno stayed still, staring up to Axel with wide, adoring eyes.
"Here, all done," Axel said, and now he allowed his voice to grow softer again. He smiled, nudging Reno's little nose with his own playfully. "Who's my clean little Squirt now?"
"I aaaaaaaaaaaam!" Reno shrieked enthusiastically. He laughed loudly when Axel hugged him closer for a moment.
"You aaaaaaare," Axel confirmed, laughing as well when Reno tried to hug him back. Reno's slightly wet hair tickled his face as the boy pressed a wet kiss onto Axel's cheek.
"Now go and get your backpack, okay?" Axel said smiling, tapping Reno's nose with one finger. He placed Reno on the floor, carefully adjusting the goggles resting on his bright hair. Reno nodded, beaming at his uncle before he tried to dash out of the bathroom. Axel held him back gently.
"I'm sorry I didn't have more time for you, Reno," he apologized to the child, who looked up to him confused. "I had really important grown-up-stuff to do. You understand that, right?"
"You were busy," Reno clarified, nodding deadly serious.
"Yeah," Axel agreed, chuckling when Reno's expression changed from serious to beaming in the blink of an eye. "You're not mad at me, right, Squirt?"
"No, playing wiv Woksas was fun too," Reno exclaimed and grinned broadly. "You're still the bestest uncle in the world."
"That's what I wanted to hear," Axel laughed and let go of Reno's arm. And with that, the boy was gone in search for his treasured backpack.
Axel watched him until he was out of sight before looking up to Roxas again from his sitting position. Roxas had already gotten rid of the handprints on his face, absently wiping his left cheek with the wet cloth before dropping it into the basin. He leaned against the wall behind him, fixing Axel with a thoughtful look.
"What?" Axel asked, feeling a bit irked by that look.
"That was…" Roxas seemed to search for the right word, grinning when he found one. "… disturbingly cute."
"Oh, shut up," Axel growled a bit embarrassed; to hide it he tipped a finger against his left cheek. "Get rid of the blueberries before you talk." He smirked when Roxas wiped his cheek again, blushing profusely.
"You sure you're not his father?" Roxas asked out of the blue after a quick look into the mirror to check his appearance. "He looks like a mini-you."
"Would be a bit weird, since his mother is my sister," Axel replied, but he felt his face heat up a little at Roxas' question. And judging by the small smirk gracing Roxas' lips, the blond had noticed his blush. "You have a sick, sick mind, kid."
Roxas sneered at the 'kid', but kept smirking. "Ah, but do you know your sister is his mother, not some poor girl you dumped about four years ago, who couldn't afford raising your clone and asked your sister to cover for her so your son could at least be near you?"
Axel blinked at him, completely at a loss for words for a moment in the face of such vivid imagination. But he frowned when Roxas started to chuckle into his hand, and he felt his face heat up even more.
"First: Reno doesn't look that much like me, and second: I was there when he was born, so shut up," he snarled.
"Yeah, wrong eye color and no tattoos, that's about it," Roxas retorted, but then he tilted his head to the side, his expression growing less amused, more curious. "You were there?"
"Who else? Reno's father?" Axel huffed. He didn't even know why he told Roxas all this. There was something about the blond that made him spill secrets he had never told anybody else before… "Ariel had a fight with our father back then and came to me, dragging that dick along… He ran away as soon as she went into labor, so I had to bring her to the hospital. Worst hours of my life so far." He shuddered at the memory; him holding his sister's hand while she seemed determined to break it and popping his eardrums by screeching on top of her lungs… Wow, and the stench of blood and sweat and, and stuff in the room… Well, he could safely say he could feel with all the young fathers who fainted during the ordeal. He hadn't even seen anything (he had been biting his free hand the whole time to keep himself from screaming along with her, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to block out her shrill cries of pain), but it was enough to make him wish he would never, ever have to endure this hell again.
"That was nice," Roxas said, hesitating only slightly before he added, "It didn't seem like you two were that close when you talked to her yesterday…"
"We aren't," Axel muttered. "We were a bit closer back then, but she really only came to me because I had been the only one who had ever rebelled against our father before. Well, but as soon as the nurse there tried to force me to take the baby, the father waltzed into the damn room and apologized with tears in his eyes. The nerve of that guy…" He shook his head. "Of course she took him back, and he convinced her they should crawl back to my father and beg for forgiveness to get some money for the baby. They did, he gave them money, Douchebag took it and left her and Reno. End of story."
"Wow." Roxas seemed unsure what to say.
"So, as you can see I can be pretty sure that Reno is not my lost lovechild," Axel added sourly. "Dumbass."
"What does that…" a small voice piped up from the door, and Axel let his head drop into his hands with a loud groan. Of course Reno had to choose exactly this moment to return, dragging his small backpack behind himself, sucking his thumb.
"Nothing you should know yet, Reno," Roxas chuckled.
"Is it a baaaad word?" Reno questioned, big blue eyes shining.
"Yeah, but Axel has already used up almost all of his bad words," Roxas explained, glancing at Axel.
"Used up?" Reno repeated confused.
"Don't you know about the bad word limit?" Roxas asked surprised, and when Reno shook his head slowly he explained, "Well, you can only say so many bad words in your life before you lose your voice, you know."
"I lose my voice?" Reno shrieked worried.
"Oh, just for a week or so, and only if you say bad words too often. But after you used up the limit, every time you say one of those you'll lose your voice for a week. And you know, if I were you, I'd save them for when I'm old," Roxas replied and smiled.
"Oh. Okay," Reno said, tilted his head to the side and started to suck on his thumb again. He only took it out to ask, "And how many bad words has Axey left?"
"About ten, I'd say." Roxas smirked at Axel, who pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed quietly, shaking his head. Oh well. He had to admit the bad word limit was a good idea.
"Then you shouldn't say them anymore, Axey!" Reno cried, skipping over to his uncle and grabbing his arm, shaking him lightly. "You'll lose youw voice!"
"Yeah, thanks Reno," he muttered, rubbing his eyes wearily. "Are you ready? We have to…"
"… run, in fact," Roxas finished for him. "At least you should, if you want to get there in time."
"Great," Axel mumbled and jumped up, picking up Reno and running out of the bathroom. Roxas followed them quickly. They were out of the apartment in no time, and Axel hugged and kissed Reno goodbye before he all but shoved the child into Roxas' arms.
Quick Note: ... Disturbingly cute, indeed. ::smiles:: Man, I miss the times when I was still able to write meaningless fluff...
::facepalm:: God, I made Roxas such a Mommy there!
Pfu. Well. Yeah, two updates in a week? I have to say I'm a bit surprised myself (mostly about the sudden update of PM, but well. Things happen.). Anyway. I'm not allowed to mention my beta here anymore ::pouts::, so I won't. IF SHE STOPS FANGIRLING OVER ME AS WELL! Well? WELL? I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO THAT, SALEM, SO DEAL WITH IT!
Anyway. Hope you enjoyed!