This re-writing business is hard work, man. Quite a few changes, for those of you who've read this before. Otherwise, enjoy the chapter, and let me know what you think. ^^
Waking up to extremely loud and obnoxious pounding at your door to find that you fell asleep while doing homework and managed to drool all over anything you had actually completed is not a pleasant experience. Glancing at your watch to find that your ride would be leaving in ten minutes – with or without you – didn't really make things better.
"Shitshitshitshit..." Roxas cursed under his breath as he flung clothes around in a frenzied attempt to locate something – anything – clean enough to wear for school. He had meant to run a load of wash last night, but had instead passed out – quite contrary to his plans, mind you – not long after Riku and Sora had politely retreated from his room.
"Hey, Rox, aren't you ready yet? Riku's waiting, and you know what happened last time we were running late..." Sora's voice trailed off when he poked his head through the half-open door and realized his brother wasn't listening. After watching the blond for a minute, he waded through the mess of clothes to his twin, avoiding seven socks, three shirts, and a pair of boxers that flew through the air and came dangerously close to his perfectly gelled spikes.
Sora cleared his throat to get the blond's attention. When that didn't work, he coughed. After that failed, the brunet frowned, watching his normally composed twin continue tossing various items over his shoulder, completely oblivious to his presence.
"Roxas!"
Said teen jumped in surprise and shrieked – shouted, in a manly way, he amended distractedly – before whirling around to glare at his brother, something that might've been more effective were it not for the argyle sock dangling precariously off a tuft of blond hair.
After taking a moment to stop snickering – during which time Roxas's icy glare only grew colder – Sora tossed him a black t-shirt and pair of jeans he had grabbed from his own closet, more-than-accustomed to Roxas's habit of waking up late every morning.
"Go get ready, and make it fast. Riku's not in a good mood this morning..." (Is he ever? the near-hysterical blond mused.) "I'll pull your stuff together."
Roxas caught the clothes and smiled gratefully. "I'll need my math book and my binder," he instructed before rushing off to the bathroom, mentally calculating how long it would take to brush his teeth, change his clothes, and criticize his hair in the mirror, and wondering whether he was likely to still have a ride when his morning routine was done.
Sora grinned at the now absent blond and busied himself with gathering drool covered paper and – was that a stab mark? – textbooks.
Six minutes later, the twins sprinted out of the house, not bothering to lock the door behind them. Riku proceeded to throw what promised to be a spectacular hissy fit, yelling random accusations and grabbing Roxas so he could push his wristwatch into the younger teen's face. His victim fought the urge to squeak in terror – Riku was really terrifying when he was angry.
Thankfully, Sora saved the day by pouncing on Riku and entirely occupying his mouth before too many curses could be yelled for the neighbors to hear – the police had been called before because of one of Riku's temper tantrums, and it was an experience none of them wanted to relive. Were it not for his twin's skill at Riku-distracting, Roxas was sure he'd be walking to school this morning – not something on his list of pleasant experiences.
When the two finally finished their morning make-out session, Roxas was unceremoniously shoved into the back of the car, which would have been fine with him except that some totally unexpected stranger was now sitting inconveniently underneath him. Somehow, he managed to clamber across to the unoccupied side of the car without much more damage than a burning face (and a bruised shin from Riku taking off unexpectedly before he fastened his seatbelt completely).
Thus, Roxas and a redhead that he assumed was Riku's "cousin" were squashed into the backseat of the older teen's tiny convertible, silently listening to Sora's rambling about keys and spaceships, accompanied by the driver's occasional grunt.
Of course, the blond never had had good luck, and the day could, of course, only get worse. Roxas had just begun to formulate a plan to steal Olette's math homework and copy it before class started when a voice interrupted his scheming.
"Hey."
He chose to ignore the greeting; perhaps it had been directed to someone else.
"Hey, kid."
Well, that certainly wasn't addressing him, as Roxas was clearly sixteen and definitely no longer a kid, and the blond relaxed a bit, instead turning his attention to the (very, very rapidly) passing scenery.
"Yo, blondie!"
This salutation was accompanied by a poke in Roxas's side, and the blond took one deep, calming breath before turning politely to his backseat companion and requesting how he might be of service.
... Yeah, right.
Roxas swirled around, fixing his unlucky victim with a piercing glare and all but snarling his reply. "What the fuck do you want?"
His angry response was rewarded with a light chuckle – a nice sound, indeed, some part of Roxas's brain mused distractedly – and the blond sighed angrily, crossing his arms across his chest and waiting for a reply.
"Well, you're just a bag of rainbows and sunshine, aren't you?" The voice was tinted with amusement, and Roxas examined its source suspiciously: big, sparkling green eyes, a pointed, stubborn chin, and the reddest, wildest hair he'd ever seen gave Roxas the immediate impression that Riku's cousin was, in fact, a run-away clown. But only for a moment.
"I'm Axel," the redhead continued, traces of laughter still underlying his words as he watched Roxas examine him, "pyromaniac extraordinaire. Got it memorized?" He finished his introduction with something that would've been a bow had they been standing, but, as it were, his movement looked more like the beginning of childbirth, to Roxas's internal amusement.
"Roxas, twin brother of your cousin's boyfriend," the blond replied grudgingly, looking out the window once more, assuming that was the end of the conversation.
"Ah, so you're Roxas." Axel chuckled again, and Roxas turned back to face him, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Riku was whining about you never leaving him and Sora alone last night."
The younger teenager scowled. That wasn't true. He always tried to avoid getting in their way… If he didn't, they'd just go at it with him there – they'd done it before – and Roxas definitely didn't need to see that again.
"Roxie?"
The teen in question looked up to find Axel's bright green eyes barely half a foot away from his face, and he yelped, scrambling backwards to put more space between them despite the lack of somewhere to go.
Axel laughed again, and Roxas was momentarily distracted by the sound. "Chill, kid. You were spacing out for a second there. Didn't mean to scare you."
Instantly Roxas felt his face heat up, and he hastened to move to his original position in a display of defiance. "It's Roxas, actually, and I wasn't scared, you just... startled me," the blond concluded lamely, glaring at the back of Riku's headrest when Axel only laughed harder.
Thankfully, Riku abruptly braked the car before Roxas could embarrass himself and/or amuse Axel further. The teenager wasted no time in grabbing his bag, hopping out of the car, and immersing himself in the stream of students rushing through the double doors of Twilight Town High.
Roxas sighed in relief, glad to be back in familiar territory. That was quite possibly the most infuriating person he had ever met.
Yeah, but it was worth it. His eyes were incredible, a voice in the back of his head pondered dreamily.
What the fuck?!
Roxas scowled, an expression that sent several little freshmen scurrying out of his path. Axel's eyes were not incredible, or stunning, or beautiful, or even particularly nice. They were just an eerily striking shade of green. If anything, they were creepy. As he traded out some books at his locker, the blond relaxed. That was all Axel was, really: eerily striking, and definitely creepy. Hopefully he wouldn't be staying long.
The warning bell rang, interrupting his thoughts, and Roxas once again plunged into the mass of rushing students, letting himself be swept along to his first period class – chemistry, taught by some old quack with a speech impediment and a bad temper. Amazingly, Roxas had the highest average in the class, despite his habit of sleeping the forty-five minutes away each morning.
The teenager slouched contentedly into his desk with a yawn, and was well on his way to a nice, quiet nap when the teacher cleared his throat suddenly, as if that would get his class's attention.
"Students, children, please. We have a new student joining us today." Roxas, half asleep, thought distractedly about how such a hard to understand teacher must be against some school policy, before he managed to make sense of them.
Oh, no. Oh, hell fucking no. Roxas's stomach sank in dread when his traitorous mind exclaimed, Oh, hell fucking yes! at the familiar chuckle coming from the front of the classroom. Cracking one eye open to see the green eyes watching him with obvious amusement was enough to have Roxas pleading with any deity listening to let him wake up from this ridiculous dream-quickly-becoming-nightmare.
"Axel, why don't you tell the class a bit about yourself, and then we'll find you somewhere to sit." The teacher nudged Axel forward encouragingly, and the redhead smirked, eyes never leaving Roxas's.
"Well, I'm Axel, as the man said. I'm a pyromaniac, I have a fetish for short blond kids, and I just moved in next door to Roxas." And his smirk only widened at the now-slouching-as-far-as-possible teen.
Their teacher nodded, obviously sensing nothing wrong with his new student's introduction. "Well then, Axel, why don't you take a seat right there by your new neighbor? I'm sure he'll be glad to help you with anything you don't understand," he added, apparently immune to Roxas's telepathic death rays.
The redhead adjusted his bag's strap on his shoulder before sauntering over and sprawling into the desk right next to Roxas with a bright grin.
"Hey, Roxie!"
---
Roxas groaned as he sank gratefully into one of the plastic chairs in the cafeteria. It was finally lunch, and thus far Axel had been in all but one of his classes, and Roxas, of course, had been assigned as the redhead's un-official "new student guide" just as often. The blond groaned again and let his head drop to the table with a dull thud, making his tray jerk slightly and his jello wobble precariously.
"Roxas?" someone questioned uncertainly, and the blond looked up, squinting and absently rubbing his now-aching forehead.
"Hayner. Guys. What's up?"
Hayner did not look particularly happy, not that Roxas blamed him after last night's phone call. Pence stood just behind him, fidgeting uncomfortably at the tense atmosphere.
Olette, on the other hand, felt no such trepidation, mostly because she thought the pair's fight was ridiculous and immature, and she answered quickly, cutting off whatever Hayner had opened his mouth to retort with. "Nothing much. Just haven't seen you in a while."
It was true; Roxas hadn't come to lunch in a few weeks, choosing instead to hide out in various classes and rooms.
After a moment Olette sat down beside Roxas and immediately began transferring food to Roxas's tray from her own (she strongly suspected he was on the verge of anorexia, because of all the skipped lunches, and was determined to save her friend) and Hayner and Pence followed suit, hesitantly taking their places across the table. The former, however, refused to take his customary spot across from his former best friend, instead sitting awkwardly on the far side of Pence with a bored façade.
"So," Olette began tentatively, but with growing confidence, "You busy this weekend? I think we should all get together. It's been forever since we hung out."
Roxas looked down guiltily, aware that it was his fault they hadn't hung out in so long, and opened his mouth to suggest they have a movie night over at his house when Hayner suddenly cut him off.
"Actually, Seifer and I have plans. Sorry, Olette." The teen grinned apologetically when the brunette huffed, annoyed.
"We never do anything together anymore," she complained under her breath, before swiping half of Pence's sandwich and munching on it in lieu of the food she'd passed over to Roxas.
Pence watched her eat the sandwich with such a mournful expression that Roxas tried to subtly pass him some of his newly-acquired food to compensate for his loss, but one sharp look from Olette had him quickly moving it back to his own tray.
A few minutes passed in awkward silence until Olette elbowed Roxas in the stomach, giving him a pointed look.
"So Seifer's taking up a lot of your time, huh?" The teen asked Hayner tensely, rubbing at his now-aching side. He figured they could manage to have a not-so-angry conversation about Hayner's... new friend.
"Yeah," Hayner replied heatedly, ignoring Pence's wide-eyed stare and Olette's reprimanding look. "He's my boyfriend, remember?" He put what was in Roxas's opinion unnecessary emphasis on the word boy.
Forgetting his early idea of making peace, Roxas pinned his supposed friend with a fiery glare. "Yeah, I get it, you're gay, whatever. But do you have to spend so much time together? He's such an asshole and you used to hate him! What happened that made you sudd-"
"ROXIE!" A shout from behind the group cut Roxas off and he turned to find Axel waving an arm energetically and dodging several disgruntled student as he fought his way to their table. The blond groaned in utmost agony, cursing the school's weak plastic knives; they were certainly not strong enough for a decent attempt at suicide, much less murder.
"Who's that?" Olette asked curiously, staring at the redhead getting steadily closer to their table; it was rare for Roxas to talk with anyone besides their group and his twin, and for someone to like Roxas enough to search him out... Well, it was odd, to say the least.
The apparent exception to the rule finally reached the group and dropped his backpack onto the table before slouching confidently (which Roxas wasn't sure was possible, but if it was, then Axel had just done it) into the only empty seat – across from the now severely red-faced blond, of course.
Ignoring several gaping stares – that hair had to break some fundamental laws of nature – the green-eyed teenager smiled brightly at his new neighbor.
"Roxie, darling, I hope you don't mind if I sit here; it's just so much harder to stare at you from across the cafeteria. Oh!" Axel dug around in his book bag for a second before emerging triumphantly, a half-melted ice cream bar in one hand, which he promptly offered to Roxas. "Here, for the help in chemistry. And math. And English."
When Roxas made no move to accept the ice cream, which was rapidly dissolving into a puddle of blue goo on the table as the redhead moved it side-to-side in a supposed-to-be enticing manner, Axel continued in a sing-song tone, "It's sea-salt, your favorite flavor."
Before the blond could say that he did mind if he sat there and that he'd done nothing in their shared classes but ignore the redhead to the best of his ability, or demand to know how on earth Axel knew his favorite flavor of ice cream, and did he just say staring? – Olette cleared her throat and held out her hand, a confident smile gracing her delicate features. "Hi, I'm Olette, one of Roxas's friends. I don't believe we've been introduced before."
Her friendly smile faltered when Axel dropped the remains of the poor ice cream onto the table and took her proffered hand with his own sticky one, but it was soon back and accompanied by a bright blush when the redhead kissed the back of her hand and smiled charmingly.
"A lovely name for a lovely girl. I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" The brunette laughed, delighted, before Roxas finally found his tongue, torn between being angry at the redhead interrupting his argument and mourning the loss of the entirely innocent sea-salt ice cream.
"Cut the crap, Axel. What do you want?"
"Why, nothing but the knowledge that I am sitting so near to my darling beloved, and that he will tolerate my presence for but a few minutes of the day."
Roxas's continued glare prompted another smirk from Axel, as well as another response.
"Aw, Roxie, baby, can't I sit here? After all, it is my first day, and you're the only person I know, besides Sora and Riku, but heaven knows they don't want me getting in their way..." His features appeared genuinely wounded, except, of course, for his green eyes, which sparkled with mirth.
Roxas frowned when Olette once again answered for him, reaching out to pat one of Axel's large hands reassuringly, her voice full of sympathy. "Of course you can sit here, for as long as you want. Isn't that right, Roxas?"
The blond in question mumbled something unintelligible but quickly responded more coherently at Olette's sharp look, "Sure. Why not?"
The girl chose to ignore the blatant sarcasm and smiled brightly at Axel, who was chuckling softly, all previous traces of anguish now gone.
What a gorgeous sound... So dark and seductive... Roxas caught himself halfway through a nod of agreement. Where had that come from?
After mentally smacking his forehead in an attempt to get rid of such traitorous (not to mention dangerous) thoughts, Roxas tuned back into reality to find Axel and Olette chatting comfortably, with Hayner and Pence throwing in a comment every once in a while. It figures, that Axel would manage to get his friends to love him. Something Axel said caught his attention and he glanced up in a trying-to-be-a-sneaky-ninja way.
"Yeah, actually," the redhead was saying, "my ex moved out here a couple years ago. That's why we broke up. Couldn't handle the long distance relationship, I suppose." The teenager shrugged nonchalantly, and Roxas barely had time to look away before Axel turned to gauge his reaction. The younger teen watched Axel's eyes narrow in the reflection of a nearby window before he turned his attention back to Olette.
"Really?" Olette asked, interested. "Who's your ex? I might know her."
Axel laughed loudly. "His name is Demyx," the redhead answered with a smirk. Olette and Hayner suddenly turned to see Roxas's reaction, much as Axel had a moment ago, and the former nudged him hard in the side, making sure he heard. He refused to give her any hint of emotion, however, and began poking at his jello as though it were the most amazing substance on earth... which it very well might be, for that matter.
"Demyx?" Hayner asked incredulously after rolling his eyes at Roxas's immature behavior. "The Demyx? Weird mullet-faux hawk combo and creepy obsession with water Demyx?" At Axel's wary nod, the blond continued, "No way! His band uses Riku's basement for practice!"
Groaning, Axel replied, "Please don't tell me he still wants to be a rock star..."
Roxas stopped listening at that point, exasperated. Was everybody turning gay all of a sudden? Honestly! Sora and Riku he could handle, but Hayner, Axel, and even Demyx and Seifer?
After a few moments of bemoaning the agony that was his life like a total emo kid, the blond found his gaze drawn to Axel as he told a story about something crazy Demyx and he had done before he moved away, much to his friends' amusement.
The redhead had angled features and a tall, almost lanky body that he somehow made look graceful while walking – not that Roxas had been watching, of course. His eyes were intense and always sparkling, and were those tattoos? The blond couldn't believe he hadn't noticed those before.
Suddenly, the hypnotic green eyes were looking straight at him, filled with amusement, curiosity, and something else he couldn't quite identify. When Axel raised one delicate eyebrow, Roxas averted his gaze, mentally cursing his rapidly reddening face.
Olette let her sentence trail off when she realized Axel was no longer paying attention, and, following his line of vision, was surprised to find a very much so blushing Roxas staring fixedly at the table as though it held all the secrets of the universe on its dirty, scratched surface.
Hayner, following everyone else's gaze, was the first to speak, concerned despite his anger with the teen. "Roxas, buddy, you okay?"
The smaller blond looked up, obviously distracted. "Yeah, fine." He smiled halfheartedly, not fooling anybody. As Olette opened her mouth to inquire further, the bell rang for end of lunch and Roxas forced out a quick "See ya later, guys," before dashing off to his next class, leaving behind three confused teens and one very intrigued redhead.
----
Roxas fought his way through the halls to his locker, pushing past a group of slow walking jocks and ignoring the catcalls that followed him; he was, after all, the infamous Sora's brother, and everyone assumed... Well, it wasn't important.
He changed his course of thought, reflecting back on the remainder of the school day. His last two periods had passed quickly and Axel-free, much to his relief. Axel was confusing, and Roxas didn't like being confused.
When the teen's locker came into sight, he had to bite back a groan. Sure, he shared the locker with Hayner, and they were back on somewhat-friendly terms, but did the blond have to bring him along? After adjusting his book bag decisively, Roxas continued to the locker, trying to appear nonplussed.
Hayner was spoke first, his voice sounding too loud in the otherwise empty hallway. "Hey, Roxas. You know Seifer?" Despite his attempts to sound casual, the way his eyes nervously flickered between the other two betrayed his anxiety about the situation.
Taking pity on his best friend, Roxas forced out a smile. "Yeah, we've met before." He raised an eyebrow at the bully. It was true; Seifer had been the one to relieve Roxas of his lunch money for the majority of sixth grade.
Seifer gaze Roxas a cool stare before hooking his arms around Hayner from behind. "You ready to go, babe?"
The blond in question grinned at Roxas, mouthing a silent thank you at the smaller teenager. "Yeah, let's go." And, with one last apologetic glance back at Roxas, he was led away and the blond was alone once more.
Frowning, Roxas entered the combination and stuffed his books into the locker. He wouldn't have nearly so much of an issue with this if Hayner had picked anyone but Seifer. There was no way that asshole was good enough for his best friend, and Roxas didn't want to see Hayner hurt, which was bound to happen in the long run.
His thoughts were interrupted for what must have been the fortieth time that day by a shout from the end of the hall. "Roxas!" The blond turned exhaustedly to see Sora bounding towards him, ignoring the angry looks several teachers were sending his way. The brunet finally reached his twin, face flushed from the short sprint. "Hey, Roxas, you ready to leave? Riku wants to take me to a movie, so we've gotta get you and Axel home quick so we won't be late." The brunet was grinning widely in anticipation of his date.
Roxas slammed the locker shut with an affirmation and let his twin lead him through the school and to Riku's car, where the silver haired teen was waiting, arms crossed and foot tapping, impatient as ever. Twilight Town didn't have a cinema, so they would have to drive out to Traverse or Radiant Garden for the movie, and either was at least a 45 minute drive away. Of course, as it was rush hour, they would have to account for the traffic, so leaving at four for a movie starting at seven was almost understandable, as the couple would probably want to eat before the show. On the other hand, it was probably just Riku being his usual anal self.
Said teenager growled, flipping his silver hair out of his face impatiently. "Where's Axel? We've gotta go." As the silver haired teen continued to rant about irresponsible pyromaniacs and the world conspiring to keep him from his Sora, Roxas turned to look back at the school's entrance, and as such was the first to see Axel walk out, talking to a short blond with something of a cross between a mullet and a mohawk. Sora noticed the pair walking towards them a second later and yelled, "Axel, come on! You're gonna make us late for the movie!"
The redhead glanced up, surprised, but grinned when he saw the group waiting for him. He yelled back something unintelligible and with a quick hug and peck on the cheek to Demyx, he jogged towards the car, reaching it in no time with his long legs. Axel winked at Roxas before clambering into the car to escape Riku's glare – which, Roxas could admit, was just the slightest bit more intimidating than his own. The teen followed Axel into the back seat and soon the car was pulling out of the school, Riku honking and yelling at anyone in his way.
"So," Roxas said quietly, surprising both Axel and himself. The blond almost never initiated conversations, as Axel had no doubt noticed throughout the course of the day. "You and Demyx getting back together?"
Roxas frowned, tempted to reach up and poke his lips experimentally. He hadn't meant to ask that at all...
Sora, demonstrating his amazing hearing ability, looked back at Axel curiously. "You went out with Demyx?" The brunet's eyes were comically wide, as though he couldn't believe that anyone would be able to handle the loud and energetic blond (who, Roxas thought with a smirk, was ten times better than what Riku had to put up with).
"Yeah," Axel replied, an odd expression on his face, "back before he moved out here."
Sora was suddenly distracted by a particularly violent and colorful curse from his boyfriend, and the small teen turned back just in time to twist the steering wheel sharply to the left so they narrowly escaped a certainly fatal crash with a semi-truck. Roxas groaned – such happenings were rather commonplace during the drive home, especially when Riku was in a hurry – and put on his seatbelt, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Axel did the same.
There was silence for a while after that, except for the occasional exclamations from Riku and soothing words of Sora. And though the silence was certainly comfortable for Axel, Roxas was in agony; the redhead hadn't answered his question, and the smaller teen was inexplicably burning with curiosity.
Finally, after more near-death encounters than Roxas would like to think about, Riku swerved into his driveway, just missing the mailbox, and the blond scrambled to get out of the car first. The driver got out a moment later, having turned off the car, and he raised an eyebrow at the very white and slightly trembling blond. "What's wrong with you?"
Axel came around the car and looped an arm around Roxas's shoulder, ignoring the look of detest he received. "I think you might have taken some of those turns a little too fast for poor Roxie here," the redhead answered with a squeeze, and the teen caught himself mid-pout; why did people insist on answering for him?
Suddenly, Sora appeared from out of nowhere and jumped onto Riku's back. "Hurry up, I wanna see a movie!" He pounded childishly on Riku's head with a fist before, in some amazing display of strength and agility, the larger teen somehow pulled Sora around and into his arms.
Of course, this led to an impromptu snog session.
Axel looked surprised and more than a little amused. "Do they always just start making out like that?"
"Yeah," Roxas answered, his voice laced with a fine edge of annoyance. "As often as possible, wherever they are, whoever they're with."
When Axel didn't reply, the blond looked up, curiosity overcoming his better senses, and saw him watching the pair thoughtfully. "Think we could try that?" he asked, voice sincerely hopeful.
The kissing couple was interrupted by a loud smack, and they were surprised to find Axel laughing. Still clutching his stinging cheek, the redhead watched with amusement as Roxas stomped angrily across the yard and into his house.