Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Say It Isn't So!
Chapter 9: The Price We'd Pay
xXx
By all means, Roxas should have been in the locker room waiting for his turn, but he couldn't help but catch the fact that Axel would be up before him. So, without really thinking about it, he found a seat right beside Sora, hiding himself in a black cloak with the hood up. Other than Sora, who could spot Roxas in a chicken costume, nobody could tell that the hooded boy was Roxas.
He'd hoped that would be the case.
"How much money did you bring Sora?" Roxas inquired, noticing the boy's death grip on his wallet.
The brunette snorted and rolled his eyes. "I don't care how much it is. I swear if it's the last thing I do, I will be Riku's top bidder." He gave his brother a wide grin and smacked his shoulder. "What're you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be inside, waiting? And... what's with the creepy stalker look, huh?"
"I don't want anyone to know it's me." Roxas stated flatly, watching the current boy strut his stuff, earning a couple of hundreds and flying phone numbers.
"Yeah, I can tell that much." Sora turned his attention back to the show, sitting casually in his seat until his boyfriend's turn came up. "How much did you bring?"
Roxas's eyes darted to Sora, somewhat dangerously. "I'm not buying anyone." He snapped, suddenly getting tense in his seat.
Not buying it, Sora smirked at his brother in an all-knowing fashion. "How much?"
The blond twisted his head in the opposite direction silently, then, without much warning, he stalked off, away from Sora and the crowd of buyers. Hah! Like he would buy someone. The thought of it was just... preposterous!
Roxas gulped.
Tension filled music faded into the room, a single spotlight at the base of the stage being the only source of light. There, in his tall, English outfit was a charming Riku. His back was turned to the crowd, but they could all see the magnifying glass caught between his fingers, played around like a toy. He gave the crowd a smirk of superiority, then taking his time walking down the catwalk.
Before the historian even reached the end of his walk, high numbers had already rolled off many girls' tongues. The highest so far was a $2,000, but Roxas could have sworn he hadn't yet heard his brother's voice in the mix. How long was he going to wait?
The auctioneer began to do the count off, repeating the number 900 once, twice, then...
"$3,000!"
There it was. A large bunny jumping onto his seat waving his arms and a wad of cash in his hands, screaming for Riku. It was funny how Roxas couldn't remember being related to him at that moment.
"SOLD! For $3,000!" Came the booming voice on the speakers. "Good job, Sora!" Demyx laughed onto the mic, congratulating the cheerful bunny. "Okay, it seems as though our boys like fairytales because here comes a familiar character." There was some shuffling of papers, then, "Give it up fooorrr... Little Red Riding Hood?- I THOUGHT WE WERE ONLY DOING GUYS, WTF- ...Oohhhhhh, okay then, nevermind."
The crowd winced at Demyx's sudden outburst but calmed when he himself lowered his voice.
"Sorry about that guys." He cleared his throat and began once again. "Nobody leave. This is a guy. You'll be sorely disappointed if you do! Alright, so, here's Red."
'How suave,' Roxas noted in amusement, taking his place at the back of the gym. Leave it to Axel to come up with something that gave him away right at the get-go. The blonde leaned against the wall, his foot propped up against it and his arms crossed. 'Give me a good show, Axel.'
It was rather cold of him to think such a thing, he'd admit, but anything else seemed... wrong or out of place.
A bouncy tune skipped around the gym, flying from one speaker to the next until a figure in a red hood appeared on the stage. They were rather tall, so clearly they were a male, but they just stood so still on the stage that the tune almost didn't fit.
It seems the figure had the same idea. With a snap of their fingers, the melody shifted into a low, almost ominous theme. They glided easily down the catwalk, capturing the crowd in an awed silence. Not a single bid was placed... not yet.
The red-hooded boy stopped about a foot from the end of the catwalk, the intense song behind them increasing in volume. In one loud, seemingly heart-stopping roar, the figure threw their hood off.
Layers of red hair were revealed in their beautiful spikes, cascading in several tiers. On his face was a well-suited grin, a wolfish kind that hinted at his predator-like nature. He licked his lips seductively, pressing a finger to his lips to further capture his "prey." Axel undid the tie around his neck, releasing the hood from his shoulders to feather down onto the stage floor.
It was only then that many realized his true outfit. Red ears, obscurely hidden beneath his hair poked out from the top of his head at an angle different from his actual spikes of hair. A matching red and black tail jutted out from his back also, completing the facade.
The music had already died down, but no one seemed to notice. Axel just needed to say something, do something, anything and he'd have the whole crowd right where he wanted them.
"Woof." He mimicked in a low, provocative whisper, which sounded clear as day, even from where Roxas stood.
A flurry of numbers were bombarded on the redheaded president, already starting off at the 4-digit mark. Honestly now, where did these kids get their money?
Roxas spotted a few credit cards raised in the air, screaming numbers around 3,000 to 5,000 and things like having the "platinum" or "gold" membership. ...Ah, that explains it.
The blond inhaled a few shallow breaths. He waited. He had less than 5 minutes now. The final number would sound off soon. How much dough would Axel rake in? How much would some poor fool pay to have that fool of a wolf in their possession? ...He gulped again.
"-$4,500, going once! Going twice! S-"
"$6,000!"
xXx
Roxas raced out of the gym, casting aside his black cloak and tossing it into a few nearby bushes, his redemption ticket in hand. Ahhhhhh! Did he really just do that? No, there's no way... But then...
He looked down at the ticket in his hand and stuffed it into his pocket. He did. He really just did that.
Roxas burst through the locker doors panting, out of breath and wheezing. It was his turn next, but not like he could really focus on that anymore. He tried desperately to hone down his breathing behind the red curtains, slowing it down to easy, shallow breaths.
He pressed his hand against his pocket, a puzzled expression on his face. It was just... one of those moments, a spur of the moment kind of thing.
"Give it up for Prince, yes, girls, Prince! ...Roxas!"
xXx
"Way to go Roxas! $10,000? That's crazy!" One of the other senior boys commented in amazement.
Roxas managed a smile. "Yeah... I guess so." He should be happy. He had the highest price among all the volunteers, Axel included. It was just... He was bought by someone he didn't know. He had expecting Axel, or at least a red-hooded person to buy him, but, the person that blew all others away was hidden in a similar black cloak to the one he was wearing, just more fitted to their figure. They, too, had their hood raised so their face went unseen.
Was he being too selfish? He just wasn't sure... No, if he really thought about it, he is selfish. He denied Axel's love, yet expected to see him out there in the crowd, waiting for him. Selfish indeed.
"Heeeyyyy," Sora chimed in, nudging Roxas with his elbow and raising his eyebrows up and down in an insinuating manner, "Looks like you get 10%, huh? Of that whopping $10,000! Lucky!"
Roxas struggled to put up a smile. "Yeah, lucky."
Noticing the disappointment in his voice, Sora changed the subject, "So, uh, what happened to that cloak of yours?" Jokingly, he added, "Didn't think short, dark and mysterious worked for ya, huh?"
The blond rolled his eyes as he pulled out his cloak from his black bag, in it contained both out-of-character outfits worn for the day. He was back in his usual baggy clothes and checkered accessories as he, Riku and his brother walked along the school hallways, watching a many of the students take their leave for the night. The auction had ended with the teachers, yeah, the teachers.
The teacher volunteers (more like victims since they were blackmailed and threatened with loss of job) were mainly Cloud and Leon, who earned quite a bit themselves, getting a large sum of 25K, though the lady (pretty sure it was a stranger here, not a teacher or a student) assured them that there'd be more where that came from so... The grand total probably shouldn't be allowed for a school auction...
"What am I going to tell Mom?" Roxas groaned, tossing his bag onto a bench, where he took his seat. "'Sorry, we can't rebuild our house because I stole your credit card and bought a teenage boy for $6,000?'"
Sora sat beside him and shrugged with a glum grin on his face. "At least you didn't use the money from your college savings."
"Sora," Roxas gave him that 'I-knew-I-should-have-been-the-eldest' look, "I spent twice as much as you."
"He's got a point." Riku chimed in with a grin. "Y'know, though, I always thought that Axel would-" The silver-haired boy halted his sentence with a loud cry of pain, suddenly dropping to the floor and clinging onto his shin. He gave Sora a glare and shut his mouth tightly, refusing to curse at the boy or his aching appendage.
Roxas inhaled shakily. "Nah, it's fine. I didn't expect him to anyway."
A red ribbon passed swiftly through Roxas's peripheral vision. Axel. No way could he ever mistake that walk, that sway of his body or the aura of greatness (he never saw until recently).
He decided immediately that something had to be done. But... what? His eyes drifted onto his bag, where, coincidentally, a piece of the black fabric from his cloak poked out of. His hand instinctively went for the redemption ticket in his pocket. If Roxas couldn't even hope to talk to Axel, then...
Roxas gave his brother and his boyfriend a quick glance before jumping to his feet. "I'll be right back." He exclaimed, partially slurring his sentence as he was suddenly a black and blond blur in the night.
The night was just beginning.
xXx
TA: So, this chapter's been cut somewhat short, I don't know if anyone's noticed. XD The reason for that is because my life's been pretty busy right now and I wasn't done with this chapter yet, but I just HAD to post something for this day. I was going to update earlier this day, but a certain chain of events prevented me from doing so... Anyway, to one and all...
HAPPY AKUROKU DAY 2010~! :)
Anyone else notice that there was a HUGE amount of updates today? XP Fans 'till the end right?- AHHHH SO BEFORE IT STRIKES 12 AND IT'S NO LONGER AUGUST 13... BYE BYE~! I will update again soon to make up for this short chapter. DDD: I PROMISE.