I'm sorry this is a little late. I meant to have it up yesterday, but I was up at five yesterday morning to volunteer so I could get a Disney ticket, and then I had to drive three hours to see my mom, and then three hours back. Loooooong day. So yeah. I don't really remember what I changed in this, if I changed anything, so just... have at it! :D
Oh, and by the way. I LOVE YOU IF YOU STORY ALERT THIS, BUT I SEND YOU WORSHIPFUL REPLIES IF YOU REVIEW. :D That's all. I've only gotten three reviews since re-posting this. Thirty one of those are from last time. . And here I thought the story was better now.
The sun rose bright and cheery the following day and Roxas groaned, rolling over and burying his face beneath his blankets before drifting back to sleep, frowning against the unwelcome intrusion of light. With a contented sleepy noise the blond pulled his favorite pillow closer, slowly falling back to sleep…
RAHWR RAHWR RAHWR RAHWR RAHWR
And his alarm clock went off, followed almost immediately by his back-up alarm clock; both were kicked at repeatedly until the obnoxious noise finally cut off with a half-hearted squeak. Five minutes later, when his get-your-ass-out-of-bed-this-instant alarm started up with its even louder and more persistently blaring noise, Roxas grabbed the cord and yanked it from the wall, still half-asleep.
Of course, no one could sleep through the ungodly noises that began drifting from his brother's bedroom barely five minutes later, and the blond finally surrendered, stumbling out of bed and making his way to the bathroom, muttering dark curses under his breath the entire way.
Roxas emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later, hair still dripping from his (near boiling) shower, bright-eyed and ready to face the day... Well, grudgingly prepared for school, at least.
Thus, when Sora and Riku finally made their way into the kitchen, looking more-or-less ready to go and sporting identical grins, Roxas was already sitting at the table and nursing a steaming cup of coffee.
Said blond arched an eyebrow at their entrance; Sora blushed and Riku at least had the decency to look slightly contrite.
"You snuck over again." He commented, entirely emotionless, and Sora backed behind his boyfriend nervously. Riku merely watched Roxas warily.
The blond teen made a face, knowing that there really wasn't anything he could do about it. It wasn't as if his mother had specifically forbidden it, and she wasn't here to back him up, anyway. The teenager settled for a pointed glare, hoping that the pair didn't think they were getting off the hook too easily.
Seeing that the worst had passed, Sora reappeared from behind Riku, bright grin once more taking reign over his face, and the brunet happily pounced on Roxas – who was, of course, still holding a very hot cup of coffee.
"What happened to your hand?"
Roxas looked down at the offending appendage, which was a vivid shade of pink-ish red and throbbed painfully, before choosing to ignore the question. Anyone with half a brain could clearly see it was burned.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you not to play with fire?" the voice held a hint of teasing, and Roxas turned to look at Axel incredulously, recalling what exactly had gotten the redhead sent to live with Riku in the first place.
"Like you're one to talk? And I wasn't playing with fire. Sora spilled hot coffee on me."
Axel looked at the brunet boy sitting in the front of the car, bouncing in his seat and chattering about nothing whatsoever, occasionally breaking into song.
"You give him coffee? That explains a lot." The redhead looked slightly disturbed, and Roxas frowned.
"No, of course he doesn't drink coffee... at least, not without fifteen packets of sugar and a cup or two of creamer." He ignored Axel's sniggering and concluded with, "It was my coffee," hoping that would be the end of their conversation.
For some reason, however, that only seemed to amuse the older teenager even more. "Aren't you too young to drink coffee? I thought only angsty college kids drank that crap."
Roxas stared at Axel in disbelief, his annoyance growing. "What are you talking about? A lot of people drink coffee." He paused a moment, then, "And I'm barely any younger than you."
"You're an entire seventeen months younger than me," the redhead replied with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "and I don't drink coffee."
Roxas stared at him for a moment, only slightly concerned about how Axel already knew his birthday, before returning to his previous act of blowing on his (still) hot hand and absentmindedly mouthing along when Sora belted out "A Pirate's Life for Me."
Axel, accordingly, returned to his previous act of doing whatever it took to get Roxas's attention, which included anything from staring to poking to licking.
The younger teenager scowled as the car finally pulled to a stop and he climbed out quickly, rubbing fiercely at his cheek. Honestly, just because Roxas had stuck one burnt finger into his mouth to cool it off didn't mean Axel had permission to lick him, of all things.
The blond walked quickly towards the school, figuring he could lose his self-proclaimed stalker in the mass of students streaming into the building. Of course, Roxas's furious stalk was no match for Axel's long legs, and the redhead caught up in no time.
"Roxie?" the voice was curious, slightly amused, and right in his ear, which sent shivers racing down said blond's spine. He shot the redhead an annoyed glare.
"It's Roxas." The cold tone had no more effect on Axel than the words spoken and he laughed obnoxiously. Does he always have to laugh like that?! the blond asked himself, half-exasperated, half-pleased. After all, it was such a nice laugh, all dark and mysterious...
Roxas pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind where they rightfully belonged, and instead focused on the sudden sensation that he was being watched. He turned to see Axel had stopped about five feet behind him and had the most peculiar look in his jade eyes.
"What are you doing?" the blond deadpanned, wondering why he hadn't just kept walking. It wasn't like the other teen deserved any better.
"Staring at your ass, which I'll admit was much easier before you turned around, so if you could..." The redhead made a twirling motion with his finger and looked so serious that Roxas almost wanted to laugh. Almost.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Roxas screeched, voice jumping octaves in his frustration.
With a smirk, Axel strutted up to the blond until he was forced to look up to meet his gaze. He's really tall, Roxas thought absently, realizing that the highest tips of his spikes barely reached his chin.
"You're cute," Axel said in a low and solemn tone, raising one hand to stroke the smaller teen's cheek lightly.
The blond found himself paralyzed, so confused as he was by the situation, and, after a moment, Axel grinned and planted a light peck in the midst of his spiky hair before stepping around Roxas and sauntering off with a casual "See you, Roxie."
Now who's staring at whose ass? The voice in the back of his head commented triumphantly.
"Shaddup," Roxas muttered under his breath before glancing at his watch and setting off for first period, thoroughly confused. Of course, halfway there he remembered who was in his class and swore loudly, earning himself a glare and reprimand from a nearby teacher.
He slipped into the classroom right as the bell rang, having loitered on the way there to prolong the inevitable. Refusing to look at the redhead he knew was watching him, Roxas sat in his desk and settled down for his regular morning nap.
"We're going to the lab today, so get your things together."
The blond groaned, sending mental darts directly through his teacher's skull. Could nothing go right today? He joined in with the class trudging across the hall to the lab, hoping that he could snag a partner that would do all the work and let him sleep.
The teacher directed them to a workstation as they walked in, and Roxas was, of course, put with Axel at a table near the back of the room. Choosing not to pay attention to the teacher's instruction's, the blond merely watched distractedly as his partner set up the experiment and grabbed the box of matches with an excited expression...
Matches? Wait, wasn't Axel a pyroma-
"AXEL!!"
Thirty minutes later, Roxas stalked out of the principal's office, fuming. How had he gotten detention for Axel's stupidity?
The redhead, in what Roxas suspected must be a typical display of complete idiocy, had decided to see what the solution they were supposed to put in an ice bath would do if he dropped a lit match on it. The resulting explosion had, thankfully, been small and harmless, but the fumes it released were dangerous and the class had had to evacuate the room quickly. Their teacher, speechless with rage, had banished the pair to the principal's office – after throwing several erasers at them in anger, of course.
Absently, Roxas rubbed at his forehead where a particularly heavy eraser had probably left a bruise. Seeing Axel sitting in one of the plastic blue chairs reserved for "behavioral issues" only contributed to his headache, and he grit his teeth in frustration, debating whether stabbing his dumb, sparkling eyes out was worth the year's worth of detention he was bound to receive. The idea was so entrancing that his hand twitched when he saw a particularly well-sharpened Ticonderoga number two, but his conscience kicked in at the last second, and he instead stormed angrily toward the door, refusing to acknowledge the other teen at all.
But, once again, Axel's ridiculously long legs foiled Roxas's plan, and the redhead was blocking the exit by the time he was halfway across the room.
"God fucking damn it, Axel, haven't you caused me enough trouble for one day? Just leave me the hell alone!" Roxas snarled angrily, attempting to duck past the redhead before he could completely skip the pencil idea and just the strangle him with his bare hands.
The redhead looked completely taken aback for a second before his green eyes grew wide with innocent hurt, giving Roxas the distinct impression of a rejected puppy. "Are you mad at me?"
The teen in question began to angrily respond that yes, he was furious, and he had better move this second or so help him – but then Axel's lip began to quiver, and Roxas's mind went completely blank. Confused, he frowned, shut his mouth, and opened it to try again... with no better luck.
Finally, he managed to get out a reply, running a hand through his hair in defeat. "I guess not."
And then, quite suddenly, and with no recollection of how exactly he came to be in such a position, Roxas found himself pressed against the wall by a firm body and trapped by two arms, with a rather passionate redhead kissing his way up his neck.
Mmm... The cursed voice in Roxas's mind sighed in contentment, and for once he couldn't help but agree as one of Axel's hands snaked its way under his shirt and the other curled possessively around the base of his neck, pulling him closer. Before he realized what, exactly, he was doing, Roxas had reached up and fisted Axel's shirt, tipping his head back ever-so-slightly in silent invitation.
Then, a new – or previously silent – voice appeared in his head, frantically waving its arms and yelling, What the hell are you doing?! You're straight, remember?!
Oh, yeah.
With newfound strength (and inward sobs of despair), Roxas used his grip on Axel's shirt to push the redhead away roughly (because that's why he'd grabbed it in the first place, he firmly told himself). Axel went without protest, the ever-present sparkle in his eyes more intense than Roxas had ever seen it before.
"Axel, I like girls," the blond said slowly, as though speaking to a particularly stupid child, ignoring both the voice moaning in agony and the voice cheering him on, sure signs that he might be losing his mind.
The redhead smirked, as if he could see the internal battle taking place behind Roxas's eyes. "Of course you do, Roxie."
The blond, having no response to that, scowled, before shooting a quick, "It's Roxas," at Axel as he tried again to leave the room. This time his attempt was met with no resistance, and he didn't know whether to be glad or upset as he walked down the hall, away from the office.
Inside the room, Axel's grin only widened. "Straight, my ass," he muttered, before heading out the door as well. This would be fun.
After the frustrating and confusing events of morning, Roxas couldn't bear the thought of sitting through three more classes with him, and decided to skip the rest of the day. Even after taking several shortcuts through backyards (and barely escaping a nasty confrontation with a vicious dog), it took Roxas over half an hour to reach his house, but he didn't mind the long walk half as much as the voices in his head that bickered over the one thing Roxas was determined to never think about again.
"Can't you two just be quiet?" Roxas hissed angrily as he stepped into his house, practically slamming his backpack onto the floor in annoyance.
"Roxas, honey? Is that you?"
He looked up, surprised, before making a face and trudging into the living room. "Yeah, it's me."
His mother was sitting in an armchair, legs curled underneath her and one delicate finger holding her spot in a book. She looked tired, Roxas noted with a mental curse to his father, wherever the bastard might be. He couldn't remember the last time his mother had appeared completely rested; not since she had been left to care for two teenagers on her own, that's for sure.
"What's wrong? Why are you home early?" Each question grew more frantic, until the final one was practically a screech. "Are you sick? Is Sora okay? Did something happen to Riku?" A pregnant pause, then, "Did you walk all the way home, Roxas? When you're sick?!" the brunette demanded in her typical motherly fashion, setting her book down and standing, hands on hips.
Roxas watched his mother freak out fondly, noting how pretty she looked even when she was pissed off. Her hair, the same shade as Sora's, was pulled into a messy mass on top of her head, secured with a pen that had lost hold of several strands which framed her lovely, if exhausted, face. She pushed them away with an impatient flick of her wrist and glared at her son, who replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I walked home, and no, I'm not sick. Sora and Riku are fine, as always. I just didn't want to stick around for the rest of the day."
Aerith, instead of being appeased by his responses, stared at Roxas for a moment, her pretty eyes narrowed; she didn't condone skipping and, with the help of Riku's parents' watchful eyes, made sure Roxas and Sora always went to school while she was working. Thus far they had never disappointed her, so after a moment she decided to give her son the benefit of the doubt. Surely he wouldn't leave school in the middle of the day without a good reason.
To Roxas's intense relief, Aerith finally smiled, her eyes crinkling warmly. "So," she began, settling down into her chair once more, while the teen sprawled on the couch. "What's up? And shoes off the furniture, please."
Roxas kicked his sneakers off and settled back into his reclining position, but, after getting the disturbing feeling that he was talking to a shrink, readjusted to an awkward sitting position before he replied,"It's nothing. Just a particularly bad day. I've got detention tomorrow, actually." He grudgingly tacked on with a scowl before continuing under his breath, "Stupid Axel."
His mother, sharing her brunet son's scarily acute sense of hearing, perked up at his words. "Axel? That boy who moved in with Riku's family?" At Roxas's confused affirmation, she squealed, much to her son's growing horror. "I saw him late last night, when I got home. He was outside, smoking--" here she frowned, in disapproval of the habit, "And I stopped to talk to him for a moment. He's such a charming boy, and rather handsome... Are you two getting along, then?" The last was asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes that made the tired lines on her face melt away.
Roxas had never seen his mother look so much like Sora, and, to be honest, he was a little scared. "I suppose you could say that," he replied warily. As long as Axel wasn't being a pyromaniac, molesting Roxas, or annoying the hell out of the poor boy (notably, such a situation had yet to present itself).
Aerith looked absolutely thrilled. She smiled in a maliciously sweet way, fixing the blond with a cryptic gaze, obviously aware of something he had yet to discover. "Axel's a good kid. I'm sure you two will get along just famously before long." Her eyes took on a faraway look, as if plotting some evil scheme.
Roxas frowned at his mother's suddenly freaky manner and subconsciously scooted away from her, eyes wide. "Mom…? Are you… um… okay?" he asked with an audible gulp.
Aerith blinked at her son, caught off guard, and was once more the beautiful, caring, and never sneaky or manipulative person Roxas knew and loved.
"Of course I'm okay, honey," she replied as if her son must be delusional to think otherwise, and then stood and headed into the kitchen, continuing as she went, "You hungry? I'm on the graveyard shift tonight, so I can make you some lunch... Let's see, we've got... peanut butter... Cocoa Puffs and Froot Loops... some spoiled milk... a can of Diet Pepsi..." Her voice trailed off and she poked her head back into the living room. "Roxas, hon', where's all our food? I just went grocery shopping." Her brows were drawn together, sincerely puzzled.
"That was over a month ago, Mom," he replied in an off-hand manner, following Aerith into the kitchen. "We've been eating take-out a lot lately – or at Riku's." When she began to look worried, he hastened to continue, "Oh, it wasn't any problem for them; you know they never mind. Not to mention, Riku likes the company." He made a face and his mother laughed.
"Alright... As long as they had some extra food, I suppose it doesn't matter." She hesitated then, "I can go shopping this afternoon, I think...." Aerith bit her lip nervously, and Roxas could all but see her mentally calculating whether or not they could afford enough groceries to make the trip worthwhile.
The blond smoothly interrupted her thought process with a supposed-to-be-reassuring shrug. "Don't worry about it, Mom, we're doing fine. You should get some sleep before you go in, okay?" He didn't wait for a reply, instead turning to head back through the house. "I'll be doing homework in my room for a bit."
Aerith frowned after her son, clearly not buying the act, but more than aware that, between groceries and the mortgage, she really didn't have a choice.
Several hours later, Roxas was happily immersed in a pleasant dream that would have him blushing for hours when he recalled it. Something landing painfully on his stomach, however, made absolutely no sense in those particular circumstances, prompting him to groan and roll over in annoyance, making the whatever-it-was land on the floor with a muffled yelp.
Wait... Huh?
Blearily, Roxas opened his eyes and peered over the edge of the bed to find his own eyes staring back at him.
"Sora?"
"Roxas?"
The latter teenager blinked and stared at Sora, puzzled. "Who else would be in my bed?"
Without missing a beat the brunet grinned. "Well, I'm sure a certain someone wouldn't mind..."
Roxas feigned confusion, flopping back onto the bed and pulling a pillow over his rapidly reddening face. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Sora's reply was muffled by the pillow pressing against Roxas's ears. "Well, I happened to hear from Riku, who heard from Tidus, who heard from Girl-Rikku, who heard from Selphie, who heard from Yuffie, who heard from Olette," he took a second to catch his breath, by which point Roxas had already removed the pillow in awe of Sora's gossip-tracking abilities, "– that a certain redhead seemed pretty worried when he realized you'd left school early," he concluded triumphantly.
Roxas stared.
"Don't worry," Sora answered without waiting for Roxas to ask, "I spread it back around that you were just feeling a little sick and went home to get some rest."
Roxas put a hand to his forehead, feeling dizzy just from trying to follow Sora's sentence. "Uh, thanks, Sora," he responded uncertainly.
"No problem," said brunet grinned and bounced onto the bed beside Roxas, who pulled his hand back a split second too late to avoid it being crushed. Sora, of course, either didn't notice or didn't care, and continued eagerly. "So, what's going on between you and Axel, anyway?"
"Besides me wishing him to the deepest circle of hell to burn for an eternity," Roxas responded vehemently, effectively distracted from the pain, "absolutely nothing."
His twin wrinkled his nose in the adorable way that always earned him a kiss from Riku. "That's nothing? Seriously? Sheesh. You're so naïve sometimes, Rox." When the blond gave no response other than a snort of indignation, Sora continued sagely, "Well, you never know what could happen tomorrow."
Roxas opened one eye and looked at his twin, eyes once again narrowed in suspicion. "What's happening tomorrow?"
Sora appeared offended. "What do you mean, 'what's happening tomorrow?' It's Friday."
Roxas blinked, and the brunet sighed dramatically, throwing his hands in the air with exasperation. "Demyx and the band are throwing a rehearsal slash party thingy tomorrow night. They're getting ready for a gig this weekend."
That got a response. "Demyx's band actually got a gig?" Roxas stared at his twin in complete disbelief.
"Hey, don't be so mean! They're not half bad, really..." The brunet trailed off feebly.
"Not half bad? Sora, Demyx's last 'masterpiece' was called 'Clam Chowder in my Pants!'" the blond exclaimed.
To be honest, Roxas didn't have that must experience with the band, dubbed "The Wave" this week. The people who played in the band were all insanely creepy – and quite possibly serial murderers, for that matter.
"Actually, they should be getting tons better" Sora interrupted Roxas' thoughts, "They found some twins to write their lyrics for them."
"Twins?" Roxas inquired, caught off guard. After all, Twilight Town wasn't exactly a large city, and, as far as he knew, he and Sora were the only twins around...
"Yeah. Kairi and Namine. You remember Kairi, right?"
Roxas groaned as the memories came rushing back to him. Who wouldn't remember Kairi? She had stayed with her grandmother, their neighbor (on the left; Riku was on the right), for her eighth and ninth grades. The annoyingly pink girl had somehow gotten it into her head that Sora loved her. Needless to say, that hadn't gone over well with Riku at all, and the whole incident had eventually caused the friends to become a couple... after Kairi moved back in with her family on Destiny Islands, of course.
"She's moving back over here? The whole family?"
Sora shot his twin a weird look. "Roxas, they moved in right down the street last weekend. You didn't notice? I was going to invite the girls over, but Riku wanted some alone time..."
The blond snorted. Alone time, he mused. More like, wait-until-that-bitch-moves-back-out time, huh, Riku?
"Anyways. Yeah, Luxord had to hire them after they beat him at Go Fish seven out of nine times..." Here Sora looked confused for a moment before the grin once again took over his face. "So, you're going, right?"
It took Roxas a moment to remember what his suffering-from-ADHD twin was referring to, and when he did, he whined, "Do I have to?"
Sora pouted. "Yes! Pretty please? You'll have fun! I think Pence and Olette are coming, and Axel will be there, and he really wanted to see you..." the brunet trailed off hopefully.
Well, he did owe Pence and Olette, after the month long fight, and then for ditching them today... Figuring that he could just avoid his redheaded stalker, Roxas sighed melodramatically. "Yeah, I'll go. But you owe me."
At that moment, a shout was heard from another part of the house. "Sora! Where are you?" The sound of Riku's voice had said brunet off Roxas's bed and out the door in no time flat, leaving Roxas to drop back into some semblance of sleep, attempting to ignore the mysterious banging coming from his twin's room.