Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Say It Isn't So!
Chapter 13: Kissing Strangers in the Afternoon
It was Monday morning. It was first period. It was yet another awkward day with Axel. Ever since the two had exchanged their "I'm happy you're okay" sentiments, it was all downhill from there. Roxas remembered his kiss with Lea. Axel remembered Roxas's confession to Lea. And then they both received a text message later in the night (while in separate rooms) that their cloaked buyers wanted to see them again. One last time before the transaction was through.
"H-Hey, uhm, Axel, I'll see you later alright? I have someone I need to meet." Roxas mumbled, fiddling with his backpack strap and looking away nervously.
"Uhm, yeah, sure, that's ok. I'll see you next class?" Axel gave him an equally nervous smile and scratched the back of his head. "Bye."
"Bye."
Roxas heaved a huge sigh of relief the moment he turned the corner, away from Axel's view and leaned against the wall, about ready to collapse in guilt. What was he doing meeting a guy he kissed and nearly sent to jail? What was he doing hiding from Axel the fact that he kissed a stranger and the fact that he actually liked him now? Roxas was doing a whole bunch of things wrong, but he didn't bother to change his direction. See, he figured, that after making enough wrong decisions, he'll finally stumble upon the right one. He's gotta, right?
Now, Roxas had to wonder who Lea really was. He had checked earlier in the morning for a student named Lea, but there wasn't a name in the database. From the build, Lea resembled a teenage boy, but sometimes he looked like an adult, but that couldn't be right because unauthorized adults wouldn't be let on campus during school hours and that's exactly the time when Lea asked to meet him.
"Room 809. Lunch time." Roxas mumbled as he recited last night's text message, walking hesitantly through the 800s hall of the school as he did so. What would he say to him? Was there anything he could say? Maybe he should just end ther little fantasy there... If it could even be considered as much. If anything, it was more or less actions based on a whim, fueled by teenage hormones and hearts in turmoil. Yeah. Nothing more to it.
Roxas twisted open the doorknob and peered in, immediately catching the bold black-clad stranger standing by the window, gazing out as if he'd expected Roxas to come bursting through there instead of the door.
"Uhm... Hey." The blond boy muttered, awkward in his greeting.
Lea didn't move. Roxas assumed he was angry.
"Listen, about last night. I didn't mean to lead you on. I just-"
"Stop right there." Lea held up a hand toward Roxas and refused to let him continue. "Let me speak first." Lea walked over to Roxas and stood in front of him. "I should be the one that's sorry. I was the one who started it. I'm sorry to have put you in such a situation."
Roxas blushed unwillingly. "D-Don't worry about it." It wasn't his first guy on guy kiss anyway. Besides, it also felt familiar, similar to his first one. It was kind of strange.
"I can't do that. I've decided that from here on out, I won't lie to myself or to you."
Roxas looked up at him, but still unable to catch any glimpse of his real face. He wondered if Lea was going to tell him his real name. He wondered if maybe he would pull back the hood and Roxas would recognize a familiar face. "What do you mean?"
"Today will be the last time I meet with you Roxas. You've fulfilled my request and more. From now on, please don't believe in the existence of Lea. Don't find me. Don't come looking for me." Roxas was at a loss. It's not like the two of them had really gotten close enough for Roxas to look for him anyway, but the way he said it made it seem like Lea was kind of important to him... despite how weird that sentiment was. "Tomorrow... No, maybe even later today. I'll come to you again, but not like this and I'll tell you the reason for my action last night."
Confused, and ultimately dumbfounded, Roxas tilted his head to the side with his eyebrows furrowed together. "Why can't you tell me now?"
Lea chuckled and Roxas drew an imaginary smile on that imaginary face that only he could have conjured. He kind of liked it. Strangely enough. "Because if I told you now, I won't have the courage to do this anymore." Lea leaned down, capturing Roxas's puzzled face and kissed him again. This time, it wasn't desperate. It wasn't a kiss initiated in the heat of the moment or for the comfort of the other.
Lea knew what he was doing, and if he was going to do this, he was going to do this right. He slipped his arm around Roxas's waist and brushed a few strands of hair away from his face with the other.
"Until the bell rings, stay with me. This is my final request." Lea breathed into Roxas's ear raggedly, his loss of air taking its toll on him.
Roxas nodded, subconsciously gripping onto Lea's cloak, as if he were afraid Lea was going to dart away from him at any moment. The real question was why he didn't want him to leave his side. He knew the guy for what? A maximum of two days? It didn't matter anymore. His lips tasted like Axel's and if he could only be the friends with the real thing, then he would make the most of this time, even if it were the last. Especially if it were the last.
"H-How will I know its you later?" Roxas asked him, pressing his forehead against the other male's shoulder.
Lea chuckled as he twisted a lock of Roxas's hair around his finger."That'll be easy." Lea purred in a familiar predator-like voice. Roxas had a relapse for a moment, mixing the moment in with an all too recent moonlight kiss. His breathing hitched, his own brain forgetting how to function for the briefest of moments. Then Lea whispered into his ear one last time before capturing him in a ghostly kiss.
"Remember this kiss."
xxx
There was something wrong with him. Roxas knew he there was something wrong with him now. There was definitely something wrong. Maybe he was fickle. Maybe he was just a confused little teenage boy with his heart confusing north for south and east for west. He knew he wanted Axel more than anyone. His heart felt for Axel, and yet... At any given moment, Lea's kiss would come to mind, throwing Axel into the recesses of his mind and invading what little sanity Roxas had maintained after their kiss.
Was he falling in love with Lea of all people?
"Earth to Roxas?" Axel asked, waving a hand in front of his face. The redhead felt awkward, wondering if Roxas was ignoring him for the sake of ignoring him or if he was ignoring him because there was something on his mind.
Roxas blink, slowly beginning to come back from his jumbled thoughts of teenage boy love. "What Axel?" He almost snapped, trying to hide the fact the he was just wondering if he was thinking of another guy instead of Axel... which was weird because it's not like they were going out.
His face burned red then as the thought seeped into his head. Ah, Axel didn't even know and Roxas was already reserving himself for him. Ah! Axel didn't even know.
"Sorry, you just looked like you were out of it... and I was saying something." Axel muttered, hurt by Roxas's unneeded glare. "Anyway, if you're going to be at this meeting, then be here."
Roxas flinched, remembering the reason why he was with Axel after school hours. He and Axel were gathered in a Student Council meeting in their building, ready to talk about the auction that had taken place the weekend before. "Sorry," Roxas apologized sincerely, knowing that this time he was at fault, "continue."
"So the auction went well, I think," Riku chimed in, hoping to extinguish the fire. "We got so much money, I'm not even sure a school's allowed to have that much..."
Namine snorted. Kind of out of place, but when it came to money, that girl was a fiend. "I don't know, but because of it, we won't have to worry about our school budget for a couple of years. I should have thought about selling Cloud and Leon a long time ago if I knew they were going to bring in that much- OW!"
Kairi smacked the other girl's head as she shushed her before Namine got into some rant about bringing back human trade for economic purposes. Sometimes that girl could come up with the craziest ideas if it brought in a lot of money.
Zexion sat beside Roxas, flipping the pages of his book every so often. It took Zexion but a single glance to realize that Roxas had once again been lost to his thoughts. Then, without thinking, Zexion shut his book, gently grasped Roxas's chin and forced the boy to look at him square in the eye. "Roxas." Zexion stated, challenging Roxas to continue to space out against his cold, hard stare.
"A-Ah!" Roxas jumped, pushing himself away from Zexion and into Axel who was sitting on his other side, ending up on the redhead's lap. The blond looked up in horror, his eyes wide and fearful, looking like a small animal that had nearly gotten run over.
The two stared at each other a moment, unsure of what to do, forgetting their amused audience around them.
"Uhm... Roxas?" Axel mumbled as he turned his eyes away from Roxas. He pressed the back of his hand against his face in an attempt to hide his blush as he gave Roxas a sideways glance. "C-Could you... move your hand?"
Roxas blinked. His already wide eyes traveled down to his hand, not sure of what to expect. Upon impulse, Roxas had gripped onto Axel's pants from the initial shock, but the issue wasn't the wrinkles that would stay on Axel's pants. It was the location of his hand, which was dangerously...
"Wah! Sorry!" Roxas cried, throwing his hands into the air and throwing off his balance.
Axel immediately whipped his arms forward, catching the blond before he fell onto the coffee table. "You alright?" Axel asked, his embarrassment gone.
"Y-Yeah." Roxas replied, his embarrassment doubling in magnitude.
"Enough with the theatrics, guys." Riku said, dropping off a manila folder onto the coffee table that so nearly stole away Roxas's consciousness. "We have another problem."
"Hm? What? But I thought Namine said we wouldn't have to worry about the budget anymore." Roxas said, confused as to what could be the problem now.
"It's not a fiscal problem. It's with the kids themselves." Axel replied, replacing his usual Axel face with that serious model student expression (that Roxas had to admit he vaguely fell in love with). "There's no school spirit and the faculty is getting tired of how unmotivated the students are."
"Can't be helped. Up until the auction, this school was pretty boring since the last StuCo was filled with boring know-it-alls that didn't know what the word 'fun' meant." Kairi sighed, knowing all too well that the school she entered was just that though: a school full of know-it-alls where the word 'fun' doesn't exist in the dictionary. She was hoping for so much more when her mediocre financial status willed her to enter a rich kid school based on an honors plan. Oh, well, at least she had Sora. Maybe Riku.
"That's true." Riku nodded in agreement. "Do you guys have any idea how to motivate the school?" Almost expectantly, Riku's eyes met with Roxas's.
"What? I don't know what to do." Roxas defended, looking away flustered and uncomfortable.
"No, no. It's my turn this time." Axel responded. "It's about time I do my job."
"Hm? What do you have in mind, Axel?" Namine questioned, taking a seat beside Zexion who had resumed reading his book.
"Let's play a game." Axel smirked. Roxas was in awe. Damn, he knew how to catch a crowd.
"That's great, but can you two get off each other now?" Zexion asked blatantly.
"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Axel and Roxas responded in embarrassment, ruining the mood Axel had created from his killer 'game' line. Ah, now if only the two had enough courage to look at each other in the eyes, then surely... Surely, the 'game' would begin right then and there.
xxx
TA: Heyyy! It's been a while. XD Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of months. I got busy with school again. I mean I can only fit in so much Akuroku time when I'm busy learning about abstinence, mentally destroying teachers and BSing rhetorical analaysis papers, but hey, since it was a 3-day weekend, I figure, why not? XD Ah, speaking of which, (yes, I'm advertising again) I put up a new story. :) It's not AU though. It's not completely in-storyline, but the concept of it is, so... yeah. If you guys want to read my first non-AU fic for Akuroku, you should go check it out. :D -nudgenudge-
Haha, anyway, I think I mentioned sometime before that the auction was going to be the last event... Yeah, I lied. The game will be the end. XD Promise. So thanks in advance for any reviews and whatnot! :D See ya next time!