Heh, well, this has been left a while hasn't it. ^^;
Sorry for such a late upload. Just so you all know I will definitely be finishing this story I just have a lot to do and it could take me a while.
Saix: Will you get on with it already.
Kit: Don't push me Saix, Xemnas said I can do anything I want with you.
Saix: ...
Kit: That's better. C:
Tily: Kit owns the story, Saix and all other characters belong to Square Enix, though I'm not sure they'll have Saix for much longer if he's not careful. ^^;
"Will you stop fidgeting! And leave the shirt collar alone!" Cloud finally snapped after twenty long minutes of annoyed glances, as his younger brother fiddled with every part of his suit and the gown in his hand, sighing contentedly when Roxas sat on his hands while his older brother drove to their current—and somewhat daunting for Roxas—destination.
Graduation.
'Graduation.' Roxas rolled the word around in his mind. Wow, surely he wasn't graduating already; had he really been in America for that long? "I'm nervous," Roxas admitted in a low, blank tone, unsure of whether he was saying it as an excuse towards his fidgeting, or as a general expression of thought. Either reason didn't change the fact that he was, indeed, nervous.
"Nervous? You should be excited! Graduation means no more school!" the older blond tried encouragingly, but Roxas only rolled his eyes. No more school, just harder work at college. What was exciting about that?
"Stop being grumpy already and at least try to look happy while you're there," Cloud continued to pester Roxas, who took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Maybe Cloud was right… for once.
"Alright already," Roxas mumbled and his brother smiled, lifting his right hand to ruffle Roxas' hair with a laugh as the younger blond batted his hand away and proceeded to fuss over his hair.
"Roxas!"
"Oh god," the blond braced himself, planting his feet firmly to the ground and giving himself leverage for Sora's inevitable tackle –especially when the brunet sounded that excitable. It came quickly with harsh impact, but still managed to make Roxas laugh at his friend's excitement as Sora latched himself onto the blond and squeezed him in elation.
"Can you believe it? We finally graduated, isn't this awesome!" The gleam in the brunet's eyes was blinding and the blond smiled at Sora.
"Yeah, it's great," Roxas answered with encouragement, though he wasn't even fractionally as enthusiastic about it as Sora was. He was just glad it was over and he hadn't embarrassed himself by tripping on stage or something. "Congratulations Sora."
"Yeah congrats Sora. You too, Roxas." Both boys turned around to the approaching voice and each smiled at Demyx and Zexion.
"We graduated Demyx, us!" Sora chimed with a wide grin as he proceeded to happily body slam his other blond friend, and this time succeeded in knocking them both to the ground with a loud thud and a round of laughter which emanated from the pair.
"Congratulations Zexion," Roxas smiled at the slate haired boy as he approached and stood with the shorter blond, both of them ignoring the giggling heap that was Sora and Demyx to save their sanity.
"Thanks, you too," Zexion replied with a small, subtle smile.
"So, how are we celebrating?" Demyx asked once he and Sora had untangled themselves and finally stood up.
"You're coming out with us, of course!" The new voice took the group's attention and they turned to see Yuffie grinning at them all: Hayner, Pence, Olette, Kairi and Naminé all following the bubbly raven.
"I hope I'm invited," the new addition of Riku's voice chimed in as he wrapped an arm around a now blushing Sora and Roxas wondered if his friends had just started appearing out of the ground like Gnomes.
"You're always invited, Riku," Yuffie replied with a roll of her light blue eyes and she giggled. "We're going out for food so we're leaving soon, if you guys are coming." They all nodded in synchronicity and Roxas turned back to look at Sora and Riku just as the silveret kissed his boyfriend's temple, making Sora smile bashfully.
"You skipped the ceremony?" Roxas questioned accusingly, raising an eyebrow at his friend who shrugged.
"I've sat through that torture once there's no way I'd do it again for your benefit," Riku replied with a smirk and the blond rolled his eyes. "By the way, Roxas," Riku continued, his tone taking on a more serious note as he tilted his head to the left a little. "Someone wants to see you; perhaps you should talk before we go."
Roxas frowned in confusion and looked over Riku's right shoulder; his eyes widening slightly as he spotted familiar black hair and shocking blue eyes. In that moment, Roxas began to panic, feeling his heart race nervously before a hand was placed on his shoulder comfortingly and Riku gave it a reassuring squeeze as Xion looked at the blond with pleading eyes. "You should go over," the silveret tried to encourage the blond whose internal battle wasn't exactly agreeing with Riku at the moment, though Zack's words kept resonating through his mind. "I'll let Cloud know."
"Come on guys, let's eat! I'm starving," Yuffie called impatiently and Roxas turned his attention to the group with a debating frown.
The blond turned to look at Riku and gave a short, decided nod. "Go ahead I'll catch up!" He finally called and began to walk away towards the car park beside the school.
Once Roxas reached the corner of the building, his palms began to sweat. He had no idea what was going to happen, or what Xion would say. What if she told him to stay away from Axel? Then again, neither male was having any difficulty with doing that so far.
"Roxas." The soft call of his name caught the blond off guard and he stumbled over his feet as he approached Xion, dropping his gaze to the muddy ground below their feet. Regardless of Zack's words, Roxas still had a horrible feeling about this. "I, um-" the girl stuttered nervously and Roxas shifted his gaze up slowly, feeling slightly calmer that he wasn't the only one freaking out here, but at the same time wondering why the raven was so nervous; she was only here to tell Roxas to keep away, that couldn't be all that hard to do.
"I want to apologize," she said calmly, tugging at the hem of her black t-shirt as she spoke and the blonde's expression was no less than shocked. "I know it doesn't mean much coming from me, but you have to know the truth. Will you come with me, please?"
As Roxas took in the sincerity in Xion's eyes, he nodded hesitantly and she gave him a small smile before turning on her heels, walking towards the car park.
The blond followed, his curiosity growing by the second along with his nerves and the speed of his churning stomach. He hated that he was walking blindly towards bad answers to even worse questions. But, he had to know, he needed to know what was going on in hopes that he could finally move on; and he had promised Zack he would at least try to let someone explain.
However, what was waiting for Roxas in the car park was not what he had expected and his legs locked in place, halting his walking as he stared, wide-eyed, into familiar green and shocking red.
Axel.
What was he even doing here? After everything that had happened Roxas hadn't expected to see him for a very long time; but here he was. Waiting for him… or waiting for Xion. Roxas found the latter much more probable and he didn't need an explanation anymore. It was as clear as day.
Roxas clenched his fists. Was this it? Had Xion wanted him to follow just so she could rub it in? It seemed like something Larxene would do, but then again Roxas didn't know Xion, perhaps she was just as cruel. "Roxas." The blond didn't look up as Xion spoke his name and he gritted his teeth together. He wanted more than anything to just walk away, but his legs wouldn't budge.
"Axel's here for you, not me, so please just talk to him." Xion's words passed over Roxas, the blond didn't believe her for a second; when he didn't move or reply to the girl sighed, turning away from Roxas to approach Axel, who was staring at the pair skeptically. Roxas glanced up after a long and silent minute to see Axel with his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his shoulders square and tense. He and Xion continued to talk in rushed, low tones until the raven finally threw her arms in the air in irritation before she grabbed Axel by the arm and dragged the bewildered redhead towards Roxas. Xion finally pushed Axel forward once they were closer to the blond and the redhead stumbled forward, catching himself before he bumped into Roxas who stared at him speechlessly.
There was only silence to follow, and it was full of questions and answers that neither of them could voice. Xion watched the pair as her string of patience began to fray and turn into annoyance at the silent boys. "This is going nowhere," she mumbled and with another heavy sigh she marched over and took both of their arms. "You're driving me crazy," she stated to them both as she dragged them towards Axel's car and let go of Roxas' arm. "Roxas, will you get into the passenger side please?" she asked with a sweet smile and the blond found himself complying with her request, worried that her obvious bi-polar attitude might take a turn for the worst if he didn't do as she said.
Roxas walked around the car and sat down against familiar leather seats. The inside of the car had that same smell of cinnamon and coffee it always had and nostalgia rolled over the blond making his heart clench. As he controlled his breathing and tried to stop himself from thinking the worst and having flashbacks, Xion marched Axel around to the driver's side with a resolute frown and shoved him into the car. "Go to the beach or something, talk, and if I see either of you on your own in the next hour, you're both dead." The girl stated, and gave Roxas one small, encouraging smile before she passed Axel his car keys and he started the engine, driving out of the car park and away from the waving raven.
Neither boy really registered what was going on as Axel drove them to the beach. They just sat in silence as the scenery rolled by and blurred what they wondered was reality or just a dream. Roxas wondered if all of this was actually happening at all, that maybe it was a dream, and soon he'd wake up and have to go to graduation all over again—a thought which horrified the blond in itself—but Roxas was worried. What if this was a dream—or nightmare—and Axel disappeared once the blond looked up? Roxas couldn't handle that so he kept his gaze to the window.
His mind was racing so much Roxas barely registered the car stopping until he heard the handbrake crank up (a habit he had told Axel was bad for his car) and everything was completely silent again.
The only noise to follow was a heavy sigh from the redhead, who hadn't looked at Roxas yet either, but now that they were here, someone had to do something. Axel knew too well that if no progress was made then Xion would definitely kill them both. But what were they going to do now?
As the thought process ran through Axel's head Roxas glanced up at the redhead, his shoulder were stiff and square, his slim fingers still clutching the steering wheel as he stared out at the rolling waves; however, even though Axel looked so tense Roxas couldn't help but admit that he still looked beautiful.
His expression softened, his pale lips curving at the corners into a subtle but gentle smile as he continued to soak in Axel's perfection and that was when Roxas realized, if this was going to be the end… then he could deal with it, he would listen, and he could live as long as Axel was happy.
That's all he'd ever wanted.
"Axel, I-" the blond started, but stopped and blushed, a small, nervous laugh escaping from his throat after both boys had said each other's names at the same time. An old habit of theirs, except this time, the tones were different. Roxas had been ready to tell Axel that he would listen, his voice accepting, whereas Axel's had sounded desperate, a tone that had never really suited the boy.
Roxas started talking again before the redhead had a chance, "Axel, I just want to let you know that you don't have to worry about me anymore, I've accepted everything, so no matter what it is you say to me, I'm fine with it." The blond gave his old lover a sweet smile. It was slightly forced but who could blame him? He might be accepting heartbreak, and that was no smiling matter.
Axel stared at the blond, he knew the boy was faking that smile; he'd stared at Roxas' face so long he could tell and it made Axel want to cry. Roxas had been so hurt since he returned and he was still trying to make everything O.K. for everyone else.
"Roxas," was all Axel could breathe out in a whisper. He didn't have words right now, so he did the only thing he could think of. With a quick movement, -and without moving his eyes from Roxas- he unbuckled his seatbelt and enveloped Roxas in his arms, an action the redhead had been craving for almost a year now.
"I'm sorry if you don't want me to hug you right now but I'm not letting go," the words made Roxas' heart leap and ache at the same time, he had been fine accepting everything, but once Axel hugged him his resolve cracked, he would let the redhead go, but Roxas never wanted to.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Roxas grabbed the front of Axel's shirt and buried his head into it and his strong shoulder; and if he wasn't trying to be strong Roxas would have cried. So, this was it? "Will you let me explain everything?" the redhead asked, his low voice resonating through Roxas' body and the blond nodded. He would always listen to Axel.
"I guess… the beginning would be a good start."
A/N: Well they met. Axel's side of the story next.
Saix: I can't believe you made me read this trash. -_-
Kit: ...
Tily: Oh dear.
Kit: Pink bunny. Definitely.
Saix: O_O What?
Tily: Sorry you guys don't get to see Saix in the pink bunny suit, we'll take pictures. :) Kit appreciates each and every review she gets even if she doesn't have time to reply, she still reads them all and loves everyone who gives them. So please review. Maybe next time -with more reviews- we'll have a better special guest. Fingers crossed for Roxas!