'White Lies'
Disclaimer: i have not and never will have legal ties to the ownership of KH. Because i'm awesome.
xxx
CHAPTER 3: The Schemers
Hayner hated Mondays. Yes, he knew he wasn't the only one. Wakka had proclaimed he hated them too. There was just something so excruciatingly tiresome about dragging yourself out of your warm bed at something o'clock in the early morning to get to school. Oh yes, school. The place where people went to get educated. Joy.
Although he wasn't the only one who hated Mondays, Hayner felt he had the right to announce that today was one of the worst Mondays he had ever experienced. To begin with, the batteries in his alarm clock had died during the night, resulting in him skipping breakfast and leaving half of his school books at home in his rush to make the train. Which was crap because he ended up missing it anyway and having to catch the bus. Urgh. Another well know thing on Hayner's most hated list was buses. It didn't help that Hayner also bumped into Seifer and his gang whilst on said bus, who had previously bullied Hayner in Primary School. Just a cherry on top on a shit morning, if Hayner did say so himself.
So could anyone really blame him, when he drew to a halt in a hallway in school, having spotted a distinctly lanky redheaded individual? Hayner had needed to blow of some steam from such a shit start to the day, and as if ordered, Axel had appeared. Well, not so much appeared, but he'd been at his locker in a deserted hall when Hayner got to school. Same thing.
So, sauntering up to Axel, Hayner, with a last-minute plan half-formed in his head, greeted Axel.
"Hey, Axel, howzit hanging?"
Axel had the nerve to look disappointed when he looked around his locker door and realised it was Hayner speaking to him. But other than that, he made no sign of acknowledging the boy's presence.
"So..." Hayner tried again.
"Can I help you?" Axel said coldly. Ooh. Hayner grinned. Clearly not a morning person. They had that much in common.
"No. But I reckon I could help you."
Hayner waited for the words to sink in, and indeed, after a couple of seconds dragged by, Axel's eyes widened in understanding. Hayner smacked his lips and linked his hands behind his head. The very epitome of control.
"Been having trouble telling Roxas... things?" he asked slyly.
Axel huffed, closing his locker and turning to scrutinise Hayner, "Why?"
"The thing about Roxas is, once you get past the icy exterior, he's really just a big gooey heart."
"What are you getting at?"
"Don't get impatient with me!" Hayner scolded; an oddly arrogant gleam in his eye, "I'm just trying to help you out. He'd never admit it, but Roxas loves sappy romantic stuff."
"... Romantic stuff?" Axel echoed, dubiously, "Roxas? Seriously?"
"Yeah. Like, cupid and poetry and all that jazz."
"I dunno..."
Axel's reluctance caused Hayner to feel as if his control over the situation was slipping from him. Things weren't going as he'd planned. In order to maintain some influence, Hayner did the last thing he had ever wanted to resort to.
He reached up and patted Axel's shoulder in a comforting fashion. Well, it would have seemed comforting, had it not been for the pained expression on Hayner's face. Thankfully, Axel hadn't seemed to notice, as he was too lost in his own thoughts.
"Trust me," Hayner said in the most reassuring voice he could muster, "I know Roxas."
Axel shrugged Hayner's hand off his arm, but Hayner could tell that, with no other options on how to woo Roxas, the senior had already relented to the suggestion.
Sucker.
xxx
Between period three and four, Hayner managed to quickly tell Wakka about what he'd said to Axel in the morning, only to receive a less than satisfactory response.
"I dunno, man," Wakka scratched behind his ear awkwardly, "It seems slightly over the top. Not to mention cruel. I mean, none of our other pranks to each other were ever this personal, right?"
"Talk about a buzz kill." Hayner had called out to Wakka's retreating back, as he made his way to Chemistry.
Upon his arrival, Hayner was told to pair up to do an experiment. Roxas had already pegged Pence as a partner; leaving Hayner with... his eyes scanned the room and landed on a bored looking Tidus. Great.
It wasn't that Hayner didn't like Tidus. It was just that Tidus didn't really have a sense of humour which often led to disputes between the two about what could and could not be considered appropriate or crossing the line. Personally, Hayner just thought that Tidus was still pissed off at him from the time he'd super glued him to his seat in History class last term.
Hayner scoffed to himself as he made his way over to the morally righteous Tidus. Whatever. This Axel and Roxas prank was going to be totally worth it. And then they would all laugh it off together. Like they always did.
xxx
In everyday conditions Roxas would have quite thrilled to have Pence as a chemistry partner, seeing as his friend's mind seemed to easily solve any science related puzzle, however, in this particular class, he was being much less obliging than his usual helpful self.
Pence gave another worried look towards Tidus and Hayner's table across the room. Turning back to face Roxas, Pence gave a small jump of fright when he realised that the blonde had been watching him this whole time.
"What's up with Hayner and Tidus?" Roxas asked quietly, as the teacher wandered behind their desk.
Pence squeaked, "Huh?" then he laughed, "What are you talking about, Roxas?"
"Well, Tidus is obviously pretty pissed at Hayner. He's being a complete smartass to him... I mean,
more so than usual."
Pence's eyes flicked towards their friends table and back again, "Oh... they just, you know, had a difference of opinion over something."
"What over?"
"Oh you know..." Pence said vaguely, "just the usual. Both have different views about something or other."
Roxas gave a small grumble of aggravation at the imprecise answer but decided not to push the subject, as Pence clearly didn't feel comfortable talking about it.
"So..." Pence said cheerfully, "Let's see if we can blow something up with this Bunsen Burner, eh?"
Meanwhile, across the room, the two aforementioned blondes were also communicating in incessant hushed voices. However, their conversation seemed much less friendly and more akin to a whispered argument.
"What?" Hayner hissed impatiently.
Tidus merely shrugged in response.
"Why do you keep staring at me?"
Tidus sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, "Well, you have that look on your face."
"What look?"
"The one you always seem to be wearing when something good is going your way, which generally means it will go bad for others. So, what is it?"
"Oh, for Christ's sake, fine. I was talking to Axel this morning before school and –"
"Fuck it, Hayner..."
" – I simply advised him on what he should give to Roxas to demonstrate his affections."
Satisfied at the response of silence he received, Hayner once again turned his attention back to their experiment, however, when the silence stretched on for a few minutes, Hayner looked up, and let out a growl of annoyance when he noted that Tidus was giving him his renowned bitchy look.
"Oh my god," Hayner said, "What? What do you want me to say?"
Tidus calmly leaned against the desk, idly inspecting the dirt under his nails, "You're not getting away with a half-assed recollection of what you told Axel and you know it. Now spill."
Hayner huffed childishly. The fact that Tidus was so well aware of his ability to weasel information out of his friends really bugged him sometimes... yet he couldn't help but feel the pull as he knew he was on the brink of confession.
"I just told him to send Roxas a couple of anonymous cards with poetry and crap in them... and maybe some flowers too, alright? It's harmless."
"But you know Roxas has always told us he finds all that sappy romantic stuff utterly commercial, sickeningly cliché waste."
A mischievous grin spread over Hayner's face, making him look slightly deranged, "That's the point."
Tidus gave an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer. If Hayner was going to continue to play this silly little game which was without a doubt going to lead him into trouble with one of his best friends, and yet refused to see reason that Tidus himself was clearing identifying for him, then it wasn't worth it. Tidus wouldn't waste his time trying to convince Hayner to stop something he was so intent on doing, even if it would inevitably lead to trouble.
Suffice to say, Tidus refused to talk to Hayner for the rest of the class, earning the pair a zero for their experiment.
xxx
The friction between the two friends didn't draw to a close at the end of chemistry class either. By lunch, the usual gang of six were sitting out in the school yard, basking in the sun, yet the common cheerful banter seemed abnormally flat and unsuccessful.
Hayner was his typical self, cracking cheesy jokes and wolf-whistling girls as they walked passed in giggling groups. In fact, admittedly most of the cold atmosphere was issuing from Tidus, who wouldn't talk to Hayner and gave him a death stare anytime he talked, even if the comment made was innocent enough.
"And so, then I was all like –" Wakka recited, flapping his arms around excitedly, similar to a retarded bird vainly attempting to fly, "- chillax, man. And you know what he said to me? He went and said –"
"I don't care what you have to say." Pence finished swiftly, having also been present at the event Wakka was recalling.
"What a jerk." Roxas said decisively.
"Oh, come on, Riku's not that bad." Sora chipped in nervously, causing all heads to flick towards him in surprise.
"Traitor!" Hayner exclaimed dramatically, pointing at a bemused Sora, "You are obligated to agree with our contention of a person, no matter what! It proves your allegiance to our group!"
Tidus gave a cruel snort of dissent, which nobody but Roxas seemed to pick up on.
"Seriously, hear me out," Sora said, "I don't know him that well, and I know he comes off all cold and up himself and stuff, but ... I dunno ... he seems ok to me."
"Naw, do you have a soft spot for pretty-boy Riku?" Wakka teased.
"No!" Sora quickly snapped, "That's gross. I was just ... never mind."
"Hey, can someone gimme some sauce packets?" Hayner asked, looking down dismally at his naked looking chips.
As if in fast-motion, Tidus made his first means of communication towards Hayner since the beginning of lunch by suddenly grabbing a fistful of mini-sauce packets from his pocket and throwing them full force at Hayner's face. Most of the tiny packets simply bounced off the recipient's face. In normal circumstances everybody else would've laughed, however, for some unknown reason, the whole group knew that something was off.
The atmosphere was so tense that no one bothered to inform Hayner of the stray packet that had managed to lodge itself in his hair.
Hayner sat there in silence for a moment, before sardonically drawling, "... And thankyou, Tidus."
"Hey, I'm going to go for a walk." Roxas announced, standing suddenly, "Tidus, come on."
And without so much as a normal protest Roxas pulled Tidus to his feet and began to wander around the sunny yard, dragging Tidus beside him.
"Ok, what the hell's going on?" he asked.
Tidus peered at Roxas sideways and then glanced over his shoulder at their receding group, "It's not worth mentioning unless things become really out of hand."
"You haven't had a fight with Hayner for... well, ever since I've met you guys."
The pair walked in silence for a while.
"We fought once back in Primary School." Tidus recalled fondly, a smirk pulling at his lips, "he stole my bag and I got back at him by getting him in detention."
"What did you do?" Roxas pried, "Dob him in?"
Tidus snorted, "I don't dob. I did some graffiti and signed it with Hayner's name."
Roxas laughed, "Harsh."
"Necessary." Tidus answered back.
It took a moment for Roxas to again address the issue.
"Can't you just tell me what's up?" Roxas sighed exasperatedly.
Tidus determinedly shook his head. Not that this was quite out of character, but the fact that Hayner was pretending nothing was wrong, and Tidus wasn't admitting to anything, was really worrying Roxas. In desperation, Roxas hoped that maybe Tidus would somehow pay Hayner back for whatever he had done, and then everything could go back to normal. Because if there was one thing Roxas despised, it was change. Especially dynamic change. That was torture.
All Roxas knew, was that something was definitely not right. What he didn't understand was why.
xxx
A/N:
Sauce-packet thing is a reference to a Scrubs episode when Elliot piffs some packets at JD's head. :D
i've officially finished highschool... 3 weeks and my exams are up! HOLY FUCK. And then comes Uni... damn. Just when i thought it was all over.