Chapter 9

One Fair Reason Hayner Hates Me

"Jealousy is all the fun you think they had. "

It'd been a while since it was just the two of them.

Olette and Roxas pretty much never hang out alone, and it was getting annoying being around Hayner and Pence all the time. The brunette girl had invited Roxas over to her dorm on Saturday, which of course he happily accepted to come and the two of them wasted their time playing Black Ops on her Xbox live. The blonde had always liked that about Olette; though she was the girliest chick he'd ever met, she knew just how to get down with the guys sometimes. She's been like that since third grade when they first met, and he hasn't noticed her masculine side until now.

Why? Most likely because of her gossip-girl attitude had been hiding so long...

"Damnit!" she cries out when Roxas shot her again. "No fair, no fair! You can't camp, that's not nice! And stop rigging all the good spots with claymores!" She's always been a sore loser too, Roxas thinks to himself with a chuckle. He watches his brunette friend through a mini-tantrum.

He laughs. "All's fair in love and war, Olette."

Though I'm still not sure what love has to do with this...

"Fine, I'll give you that one..." she grumbles to herself. "But I still want a rematch!"

Fifteen tries later and she's seventeen matches down. She hasn't won a single death match yet. You'd think that after losing so many times, she'd pick up Roxas's tricks. All he's been doing for the past three hours is camping around in the shadows and planting claymores in Olette's way-too-predictable hiding spots. When will she learn? By the nineteenth match she was getting frustrated, Roxas could tell. Everytime her team lost she got so pissed off she actually hit the blonde a few times in the arm. Of course, it didn't hurt, but it was funny nonetheless. Twentieth match and for once the Black Ops team had won. He sighed in contentment. Thank God... maybe now she'll SHUT UP. he thinks to himself with an inner smile but outer frown.

"Ha! Suck it, blondie!" she laughs, standing up to gloat. He stands too, chuckling just the same. Sore loser... and a sore winner, isn't she? There's no break with this girl! Things seemed normal for the time being.

Until he felt hands on both of his cheeks. And suddenly soft lips met his roughly. The feeling of joy and over-ecstatic victory in the air was suddenly gone; both Roxas and Olette didn't move. They just sat there, lip to lip, staring at each other wide eyed. The brunette's hands leave his cheeks. He takes a step back. "Umm... Olette?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"She did WHAT?"

The red head nearly dropped his ramen onto his lap when he heard the blonde say what he did. It took a lot of will power for Axel to push his over-protective Roxas-related thoughts to the back of his mind. Olette kissed Roxas? MY Roxas? That bitch isn't getting away with this! I swear, when I get my hands on her, I'll...! I'll...! Wait... but if I do anything Roxas may figure out about... DAMNIT.

The blonde sighs and tips the edge of his best friend's bowl upward more. Looking down Axel hadn't realized it was almost about to spill onto his crotch in the midst of his thoughts. Oops.

"I-I don't know, I guess it just happened! One minute I was listening to her drone on about her ONE death match victory and the next it's... it's... EH!" he cries, head dramatically hanging down towards the ground. Axel pats him on the back, rubbing it gently and saying, "There, there" like a good friend as he listened to the blonde mumble to himself. It was almost surprising to see him like this; Roxas usually tends to be the, 'I'm-so-cool-cause-I-don't-care-about-what-girls-do-or-say-to-me' kinda guy but to see him like this after ONE little kiss is... just too funny. He's gonna have to hang this over his head for years to come. "I just don't get it, Axel. Why did Olette kiss me?"

He shrugs. "I dunno, she likes you? How the hell should I know; what do I look like, a girl whisperer? Go talk to her about it. I'm sure she's got more to say about it than I do..."

Roxas looks up at his friend with a dagger-like glare. "Thanks, Axel. Glad to have your support." Something about his tone implied sarcasm, but Axel ignore it and gave him a thumbs up and a toothy smile.

"You can expect nothing less from your BEST friend."

I just hope for heart's sake Olette DOESN'T like him... Axel thinks to himself with a grimace. The last thing he needs is more competition...

"I think you should stop hanging out with Olette."

Roxas had to double take at his friend when he heard him. But then again... subtlety was never Hayner's specialty, so hearing him be so blunt wasn't that big of a surprise. "...huh?"

"You heard me." he spits, not looking directly at Roxas. For some reason, hostility sat in the air.

"Okay..." the blonde twirls the lollipop in his mouth. "And why can't I hang out with her? Is somebody... JEALOUS?" And Roxas couldn't help but laugh when he watched how angry Hayner had gotten about his remark. If there were ever a person in the world to have a worse temper than Axel, it'd be Hayner, hands down and without a second doubt.

He'd opened and closed his mouth a bunch of times like he wanted to say something but couldn't find his voice. At first Roxas thought he was about to explode in his face but was surprised to see his cheeks turning red and his voice shaking and speeding. Hayner was never really the kind of guy to feel any emotion besides contentment, self-pride, or pure rage. "Jealous! Me? That's just stupid! I-I hate Olette, you know that and I have nothing to be jealous about so just... drop it, okay?"

The blonde sighs, bites down on his lollipop again. "If you hate Olette so much, why do you still hang around her?"

"W-Well... b-because... I..."

He cheekily grins. "...like her?"

"Oh hell no." he snaps back, punching Roxas hastily in the arm. "I tend to stay AWAY from girls like her. Besides, what the hell would I see in someone like her? We're opposites. It wouldn't work anyways. W-Why are we talking about Olette anyways?"

"Maybe because you brought it up?"

"Whatever... point in case being I don't like her and you should stop hanging around with her. End of story."

The spiky-haired blonde shrugs, tossing his now candy-less lollipop stick in the trash can nearby. As calmly and coolly as possible, Roxas collects his books and shoves them back into his messenger bag and stands. He walks towards the study-hall door and stops just under the archway. Turning his head towards Hayner slightly, he says with a chuckle;

"Fair enough. But about you and her not working out, you'll never know until you try it."

Miku: (sighs) A month... it took me so long to get this up.
Hayner: ...what the hell it took you that long to write THIS?
Roxas: Yeah, Miku, this is awful.
Miku: Up yours, man... I've got writer's block -_-
Axel: HOMYGOSH I actually had a part in this short piece of crap you call a chapter!
Miku: SHADDUP ABOUT IT SUCKING OR ROXAS ENDS UP WITH XION IN THE END
All: (dead silent)
Miku: Welcome to the Black Parade, my dear.
Xion: Thanks...

You guys are gonna hate me for this... but I cut it there. Not only because I've procrastinated this too long and have no idea what to write after this scene, but also because I need to MOVE THIS FREAKING STORY ALONG! I haven't even gotten into Xion's story yet. Hell, she isn't even in the story yet! So, expect an appearance from our favorite AkuRoku road-block in chapter 10

Love and bunnies,
Miku