Chapter 4 - in which shoe taste is questioned

Roxas practically ran all the way home, unable to comprehend what had just happened. When he arrived, he raced into the kitchen, waved a quick hello to his mother and told her briefly that he'd had a good time at the club and that he'd be going again, that he'd eaten, and that he was going to his room to draw. She listened to it all with the understanding of a mother of two unbelievably overactive children, and smiled after him when he picked up a carton of juice and whirled out of the kitchen again, followed shortly by the clomping sounds of him going upstairs.

When he got there, he saw that his VoIP program had a missed call - his brother had tried to call him. Sora lived with their father moving all around the world, following their father's line of work - he was a naturalist, studying the disappearing habitats of big cats. However, his nightly phone call to Sora was sacrosanct, unless Sora was airborne between locations. Taking a moment to ditch his bag, he kicked his shoes off and under his bed, poured himself a glass of juice from the carton, and settled in front of his desk, immediately calling Sora. He noted with approval that the missed call was only a few minutes previously. After a moment, the call stopped ringing, and Sora's enormous head of spiky brown hair filled the screen.

"Hey Rox! How are ya?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Just got back from that martial arts club at school."

"The one that your lab partner's been trying to get you to go to for ages?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Wow, it runs late. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah. I did, actually. I went 'cos the new guy at the school seemed interested, and I'm responsible for him this week, so I thought I'd go along to introduce him to everyone. It doesn't run that late, really, we went for food afterwards."

"Two Tiana's in two nights?"

"How did you know?"

"Roxas, you're nothing if not predictable. Oh, and it's the nicest food."

"That's true."

"So did the new kid like it?"

"...yeah, he did. He said he'd done a little bit, but it turns out he's some kind of hardcore Fight Club dude, he's got a gym in his house, it's pretty awesome, he's got loads of these cool wooden weapons, and..." Roxas mentally bit his lip, realising he was oversharing. "Uh, well, y'know..."

"When did he start?"

"When he was nine, I think."

"No, Roxas, I meant when did he start school. He started fighting people when he was nine?"

"Nonononono he started training when he was nine. He started school yesterday." There was silence from the other end.

Sora looked distinctly unimpressed. "...you met him yesterday. And you've been in his house already." Roxas blushed, and tried to answer, but Sora cut him off. "At goddamned LAST. I was beginning to think you were a eunuch, Rox."

Roxas reddened at the tone. "Sora, you need help."

"Is he hot?"

"Sora, I know him TWO days-"

"That's not what I asked. Is he hot?"

Roxas sighed, and shook his head. His brother was relentless, and would not give up until Roxas was ready to kill him. "Yes, yes he really is."

"Does your cockblock friend know?"

"Hayner? I think he had the word 'rapist' in his head from the instant he saw him, but I told him to get a grip."

"Rox... do you like him?"

"Ok, Sora, in that regard, I really do only know him two days, ok? Two days. TWO. He definitely ticks boxes I didn't know I had, but I have no idea if that actually means anything at this stage, ok?"

"Ha, Roxas, we're sixteen. NOTHING means anything at this age."

"You sound like Dad."

"That's 'cos that's a Dad Classic. Listen, Rox, I can't stay on 'cos I've got a daaaate."

"With WHO? You're on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, Sora, how the hell did you find someone to spend more than ten minutes with who speaks English?"

"With my Sora maaaaaagic. Anyway, I want a photo of this rapist cage fighter before the week's out, k? See ya, Rox."

"He's not a- bye dude." Roxas signed off at that, and took his phone out of his pocket, to discover there were no less than eleven missed calls, all of them from Hayner. Groaning, he hit the call back button. Hayner answered on the first ring.

"Roxas where WERE you, I've been calling you all eve-"

"Hayner, chill, I was at the martial arts club, I told you earlier, remember?"

"That thing finished hours ago, I know 'cos I went to pick you up to go watch a movie at Naminé's, and you weren't there. That weirdo you do physics with said you left with the new kid, I was worried."

"Good god, you worry too much. I was getting something to EAT, Hayner, that's it, 'cos I knew I'd've missed dinner at home."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Did you eat alone?"

"No, I had food with Axel, he was hungry too. In fact, he just asked if I wanted to go get a drink, and I upped the ante to food, so don't get your knickers in a twist. He's a nice guy, he doesn't need your overprotectiveness on his ass."

Hayner was silent for a moment, before he finally relented. "Ok, Rox, I'm sorry. I guess 'cos you've not really been interested in anyone ever, and now you look like someone's got a vice on your sack every time this guy walks past."

"I DO NOT - do I really?"

Hayner chuckled down the phone at him. "No, not quite like that, but it is a little bit obvious." There was the sound of a deep breath being drawn on the other end of the phone. "If it helps, after he walked off at lunch today, Pence saw him in the toilet splashing water on his face. I bet he likes you, too."

"Well this is creepy, you've gone from being a cockblock to a matchmaker. Do you need a theme song? MAAATCH maker match maker make me a match..."

"Oh god, Roxas, shut up already. I said I was sorry, I'm not lying, just giving you the facts." Hayner sounded grumpy, so Roxas controlled his laughter, pleased that the awkwardness was in the past, but Hayner wanted to query him further. "DO you like him, Rox?"

"To be honest, Hayner, I have no idea. Sora just asked me the same thing, and I don't know. He's really good looking, and he's funny, and kinda cool, but he's got a pretty strange life, and I don't know if I can handle it. But for now... I guess I'm definitely attracted to him, so, yeah." He heard Hayner sigh at the other end.

"Man, Naminé is going to be obnoxious."

Roxas barked a laugh at that. "Yes, yes she is. Oh well."

The next day came with a strange sense of unease. Roxas woke suddenly and painfully, feverishly hot and still in the final throes of an horrific dream involving running from dark things. As long as he could remember, this nightmare had plagued him, but there were some rare occasions when his dream counterpart would find a room of light and escape the all-encompassing darkness, but this morning's was not to be - instead, his dream self (who always seemed oddly lucid, like he was aware he was dreaming) found himself surrounded by twenty-foot tall walls of flame, and the darkness just beyond. Shaking off the last tendrils of sleep, Roxas hurled himself out of bed and staggered to the bathroom, peeling his sweat-soaked pyjamas from his thin frame and dumping them unceremoniously in the laundry basket. He ran the shower cold, and stood underneath its relentless icy stream until he'd cooled down enough to be satisfied he wasn't actually ill.

When he got to school, he headed straight for his locker to drop his books off before heading down to gym class, but found a note there waiting for him inside his locker, rumpled from being shoved through the vents.

After school. First lesson. Meet out front. I'm driving. Take out on the way?

Clutching the note tightly in his hand, Roxas grinned and slammed the locker closed behind him as he ran off to the gym, where Leon was waiting to begin their class.

The rest of the day couldn't have gone any slower for Roxas. Every class stretched time until he felt it was going backwards, and both Pence and Olette commented that he seemed agitated, even when he'd made a special effort to relax and tell them about how the previous night had gone (ending it immediately after Tiana's, at which point Pence became offended that he'd dared to eat at Tiana's without him, and the whole group descended into helpless laughter). The worst was the last three sessions after lunch, which were usually Roxas' weekly highlight - art. Their teacher was discussing their Christmas assignment with each of them in turn, and as Roxas had chatted to her about it last week, he essentially had the last three hours to himself, free reign to do as he wished.

For the first hour he doodled idly, clock watching, until he realised he'd been drawing exclusively with a red marker. The implication amused him, and so he laughed and began to concentrate on what he was doing. When the final bell rang, he held his sketchbook out at arms length, and, pleased with what he'd achieved, shoved his open sketchbook into his bag, and raced out of the door.

Chest heaving in anticipation, finally got to the outside of the building, and scanned the path to the car park, with no success. He almost became despondent, but then felt a distinct heat from behind him. Axel had come up right behind his back, so they were only millimetres apart, and he craned his tall head over Roxas' shoulders to whisper next to his ear. "Boo." Roxas froze instantly, unable to speak. "Did I scare you?" His breath was hot and mere inches from Roxas' ears, which turned pink. Finally, Roxas found his voice.

"Yes."

Axel pulled away sharply, not expecting that response, and Roxas spun around and grinned at him.

"HA! Muppet. You ready to go?"

"Yeah. Who are you calling a muppet? I had last period free. My car's at the other end of the car park."

Roxas tried to remember the other three cars that weren't Reno's that he had seen at the house last night, but the other three black cars had made no impact on him. When Axel finally stopped at a car and hopped in over the door into the driver's seat, Roxas realised he hadn't seen it anyway.

Axel had taken a comfortable leap into the driver's side of an electric blue Lotus Elise. It was beautiful, and though the license plate put it at about six years old, it was in immaculate condition, like it was very well cared for. Roxas didn't actually realise he was outright STARING at the car until Axel called out sarcastically,

"Get in, loser, we're going shopping."

"Did you just quote-"

"Yes, yes I did, now pick your jaw up off the floor and get in the car before someone thinks I'm trying to groom you."

Roxas hurried into the passenger seat, laid his bag in the space behind the car, and they reversed out the car park.

The traffic was terrible, which afforded Roxas the time to ask the question he'd been dying to ask all day.

"Just how rich are you!"

Axel threw back his head and laughed a loud, throaty laugh. "We're not. Uncle Vincent is. My dad runs a charity now that raises awareness of the importance of antenatal care, he hasn't got an income, but Uncle Vincent doesn't mind. He's never told us how he makes his money, but Reno and I are convinced he was a mercenary in a past life. Reno thinks he still is, but I know he spends way too much time mooching in his room reading the lamest romance novels you will EVER read to have time to go gallivanting with heads of state, but you never know. Before you ask, by the way, I didn't ask for this car, would you believe I won it when I was eleven? One of those stupid charity lotteries they have for super cars in airports, I had my choice of car and I chose this one. Reno was livid 'cos this car isn't expensive at all, and I could have had an Aston Martin DB9, which costs like five times as much, but that thing was just too big for me. This one was nice. And four of the other cars were red, and I just would have either clashed or co-ordinated, and I'm not sure which would have been worse. I do love this baby though, she's just the sexiest thing on the planet."

Roxas blushed at that, and stroked the leather on the passenger side of the dashboard. It felt warm to the touch, and comforting. He was so absorbed in examining the various nooks and crannies of the car that he didn't even notice that Axel had pulled up the car and parked it. They both exited the car, and it was then Roxas saw they weren't anywhere near Axel's home, they were instead on the main street.

"What are we here for?"

"I DID say we're going shopping. Need to get you some kit, Uncle Vincent's orders. You'll need to keep an open mind."

An hour later, Axel and Roxas pulled into Axel's driveway and into the garage. Roxas noted there while the other cars had been parked outside, Axel's was the only car in the garage, along with multiple motorbikes, one of which was bulky, long and black. It stood out not only for its shape, but also for the fact that it was the only bike in the garage that was not covered with a protective sheet. After grabbing the impressive number of bags they had amassed for less than an hour's shopping, Roxas followed Axel into the kitchen, where the older boy fixed them both with some orange juice and a plate of cookies, and they chatted amiably for several minutes before Roxas heard a car pull up, the front door open, and the kitchen door burst open. Reno noisily entered the room, waved to Roxas and Axel and called behind him,

"Oh look! The mini-you is here, dude! You want a soda or what?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes in confusion, before Reno's companion appeared in the kitchen, and Roxas had to do a double take, and immediately felt like he was staring at a vision of his future self.

The man was half a head taller than Roxas, with shining blue eyes and a bemused expression, topped with a set of comically large iridescent blond spikes. Clearly at least another year older than Reno, he had broad shoulders, and, despite the fact that he was wearing a heavy jacket over a tee-shirt, Roxas could see he was obviously very well built underneath. He smiled briefly at Roxas, and said,

"Heh, I can see what you meant. Nice to meet you, I'm Cloud." He stuck his hand out and shook Roxas' hand. "I'm gonna have to change my style if you're going to be around more often, kid."

"Ha! Nice to meet you too, Cloud. I'm Roxas."

"Reno tells me you're gonna start training here soon. Good luck!" He sat next to Roxas, and Reno pulled Axel aside with a grin to tell him something in a hushed tone. Axel looked back terrified at him, and they began a frantic, under-the-breath conversation, full of waving gestures. Cloud chuckled wearily, and Roxas took the opportunity to be polite and sociable.

"Are they always like that?"

"Yeah. Axel's a bit more serious usually, but Reno's mission in life seems to be to tease his little brother for as much of the day as possible."

"I can understand that, my older brother's the same sometimes."

"Heh."

"Do... uh, do you train here too?" Roxas asked.

Cloud gave him a thoughtful look. "No. At least, not formally. I've known their uncle since I was a kid, so I do fall into the whole world of it, and if I'm here with Reno for a few days then I'll probably spar a little with them. 'S not the fairest, though, 'cos I'm naturally much stronger than either of them, although Axel gives me a really good run for my money. Reno's a wiley bastard though, he might not beat me but you'll never catch him, he's really elusive."

"Are you... dating Reno?"

Cloud laughed at Roxas' question, and a tiny element of pink crept into his cheeks. "Yeah, for about six months now, but I've known and liked him for years and years. Had to wait for him to get through the 'I like girls' phase, which lasted longer than I thought. I don't think he's that picky any more, thankfully." Their conversation was ended abruptly by a shout from Axel.

"GOD Reno, get your mind out of the gutter, for once in your life." Reno was grinning like a cheshire cat, a look that made Roxas shiver for an unknown reason. Axel was glaring at him, but softened and turned to Roxas after a moment. "Roxas. You ready to get started?"

"Shouldn't we wait for..."

"Oh, he's down there already."

"How did you know?" As soon as the words left Roxas' mouth, Reno flashed a quick warning glance at Axel, a look which did not go unnoticed by Roxas. Axel's expression did not change however, when he answered.

"'Cos he knows you're coming, dummy. He knows what time school gets out, and he knew I was getting some stuff for you." He said this very smoothly, but after Reno's glance, Roxas got the sense he was missing something, but he schooled his reaction so they wouldn't think him suspicious.

"Right, cool. I'm ready, I think."

"Good. Let's roll. See ya." He waved at Reno and Cloud, who gave a patronising wave at Roxas, which he laughed at and returned in kind, then followed Axel out of the room. They made their way directly to the lower room beneath the staircase, the corridor to the training room, not seeming as long or intimidating during daylight hours. The door was open, and, as Axel had said, his raven-haired uncle was indeed inside, pottering about patiently, dusting inside the cabinet. Axel nodded in his direction, and took off for the shower-room. Roxas swallowed nervously and approached the older man.

"Hello." Vincent's voice was soft, deep and full of authority. It was the kind of voice that Roxas hoped never to hear raised.

"Hi."

"As you will know doubt know, my name is Vincent Valentine. Axel has informed me you wish me to train you in some manner of fighting arts. My nephew rarely asks favours, and your concern for him when you believed his was in danger and only knew him two days speaks volumes about your character, so I am happy to acquiesce to his request. I will train you with one weapon only, and although you may have some choice over the weapon, ultimately, the weapon chooses its wielder and you must choose the one that is right for you. Is that clear?"

Roxas nodded vehemently. "Yes sir."

"Oh goodness, please do not 'sir' me, it makes me feel old. I'm old-fashioned, not a crone. Are there any weapons that particularly take your fancy?" Roxas examined each weapon in turn, but none were more desirous to him than any other. He mulled over the choice, afraid to answer, but eventually he plucked up the courage to voice it.

"Not particularly." He was worried about Vincent's response, but the older man nodded.

"Good. It is best to learn the basics before one impatiently strives for a particular goal. Please, go get yourself changed."

Roxas nodded a thanks, and took off to the changing room. He was surprised to see that the room was a large-ish wet room, with two showers at one end and a long bench and a hanging rail at the other. Axel's clothes were already on the rack, and he was tying his shoelaces. Roxas took one look at the shoes in question, and an unintended guffaw escaped his lips.

"You weren't kidding. I honestly thought you were winding me up."

Axel reached below his chair and fished a box from a bag there. He tossed the box to Roxas, who caught it awkwardly. He cracked a grin at the blond. "Nope, you think I'd have dropped seventy munny on a joke?"

"SEVENTY MUNNY!" Roxas flustered, but Axel waved dismissively at him.

"Sssh. Just get 'em on, twinkletoes." The redhead stood and left the room, and Roxas changed very quickly, opened the box and just stared at the contents.

"What am I doing?" he asked, but the pink ballet shoes did not reply.