'White Lies'

Disclaimer: i really wish i had an answering machine-esque thing that wrote out witty disclaimers for me... but of course such things do not exist.

xxx

CHAPTER 5: The Confession

A weirder week than usual had transpired for Roxas. He had paid little afterthought towards the mysteries revolving around the card he'd thrown away. However, it eventually became increasingly difficult for Roxas to maintain this ignorant mindset when he received a further two cards, some chocolates and even a flower (seriously, who gave guys flowers?) in the days following. Roxas was starting to get the creeps, and he was becoming noticeably more paranoid whenever he caught anybody staring at him for more than an acceptable 3 seconds.

Roxas knew and grudgingly acknowledged that he was quite attractive. In fact, he often had to endure his friend's teasing about his uncanny ability to falsely lure poor girls in with his looks. In some aspects this was true, seeing as the whole blue eyes and blonde hair thing drew Roxas a few admirers, until they got close enough to discover his shy and average personality. This often subsequently repelled these girls and forced them to continue their hunts for more unique and cooler guys.

All things considered, Roxas thought he should have felt slightly flattered that he'd received such a card in his locker, even though he had a girlfriend. Instead Roxas just felt sickened.

The fact that Roxas had to resort to homework as a means of distracting his mind from wandering to cliché subjects like cards and flowers reflected just how drastically this was influencing Roxas's mental health. This explains why Roxas found himself, yet again, seated firmly at his dust-covered desk that he normally would never use attempting to tackle the outrageously cruel amount of homework his English teacher had set the class. So far he'd only gotten a single line of writing down. A line that merely reworded the essay topic. English had never been, nor would it ever become Roxas's strong point.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Roxas felt his heart give an embarrassingly startled jump when his phone's piercing shriek shattered his thoughts. Diving off his bed in a wild attempt to reach his mobile, the frazzled blonde snatched the device up and answered it in a rush, whilst forgetting to check the Caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hey!"

"..."

"It's Kairi, stupid! You know, your girlfriend? Every thought of ringing once in a while?" A laugh followed.

Roxas groaned, he knew he'd forgotten to do something last week, "I'm sorry, Kai. I've just... had a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Kairi asked, "It can't be an issue about homework, because you've been putting so much effort into school lately, you geek!"

"Well, thanks. I'm flattered." Roxas paused, wondering whether or not to honestly tell Kairi about him suddenly becoming the unexpected object of someone else's affections.

"So, what is it then?"

Roxas coughed, "Uh... lately I've been getting letters and stuff... in my locker. They say weird things... I promised I haven't insinuated anything with anyone!"

Kairi laughed, "You may be a looker, Rox, but you aren't really much of a talker – so you don't draw the ladies in that department. Honestly! A couple of months after I leave the school and now someone else seems to be taking an interest in you? I must have seemed like a threat to them."

Roxas snorted, "I'm glad you aren't mad, Kairi."

"No way. If anything, I find it cool someone else likes you. It means you must have some appeal that doesn't only work on me."

"I could take that as an insult, you know."

"You could take it anyway you like," Kairi chirped, "but you know deep down that I meant it in the most loving way possible."

Roxas grinned into his phone, incredibly appreciative that this aspect of his life at least seemed to display solid foundations, regardless of everything else that was currently going on.

xxx

Axel had previously tried to tell Roxas about his growing feelings multiple times, but try as he might; the blonde wasn't very good at picking up on Axel's hints. Not that they were particularly clear to begin with, but Roxas's mind wasn't one that picked up on minute details. One such occasion, Roxas had been continuously whining about the crap day he had been having, and Axel had spontaneously decided that, since Roxas was already in such a shitty mood, that even his declaration of intimate feelings wouldn't be able to exacerbate the blonde's rage.

"...Having a bad day, that's all." Roxas had ground out in maths.

"Naw, if it makes you feel any better, you know I like you, Roxas."

Axel had meant it seriously, but Roxas had taken it as a joke. As always.

The blonde snorted and light-heartedly replied, "Well, that just makes me more depressed."

A swing and a miss. That's how it always went.

Roxas's seemingly distant voice pulled Axel out of his reverie. The two of them were standing by Axel's locker, whilst he struggled to distinguish his maths textbook in the midst of muddled papers and other mess it contained. They were late to maths class as it was, and Axel's blasé attitude towards organisation and punctuality wasn't assisting the matter of the bell having rung ten minutes ago.

"Did the convenience store not stock your favourite cigarettes again?" Roxas piped up.

"Huh?"

The boy shrugged, "Just guessing what's up with you."

Hunching his shoulders and racking his right hand through his locker, attempting to pick out his maths book through sheer luck, Axel grunted, "I've already told you nothing's up."

"So you haven't been getting laid, is that it? Seeing as 'nothing's up'." Roxas gave a sly grin.

Well, that comment certainly received Axel's full attention. Leaning away from his locker, Axel quirked an eyebrow at the blonde and gave him an utterly bewildered stare, "Ok, firstly, my libido's doing just fine, thanks for asking... and secondly, that's a bit rich coming from you, little Mr. Virgin."

Roxas's playful eyes burnt out; their sparkle replaced by a chilling icy blue, "I'm not a –"

Axel snorted. No matter what Roxas's defence was – the basic way of which the blonde looked had virgin written all over it. "Yeah, so you've said multiple times. But riddle me this, princess, how's your love life going with your girlfriend living in another state? Phone sex doesn't count, although I doubt you'd even do that."

"God, I really hate you sometimes." Roxas growled out, but Axel knew, by experience, that the blonde would get over it in no more than a couple of minutes.

"It's your own fault for bringing up sex." Axel gave a one-shouldered shrugged and proceeded to dive back into his locker.

"Yeah, well, I was just trying to pull you out of the weird zoned-out state you've been in for the past couple of days. It's depressing and infectious, and if I keep hanging around you like this I might just sell my soul to save myself the pain."

"I've just been getting pretty distracted lately." Axel admitted.

"Why? Since when do you get distracted?"

Axel pulled a face. They were approaching dangerous territory in their conversation. Axel needed to steer clear.

"It's doesn't matter." He dismissed, realising a split second too late that such an answer would only further intrigue Roxas to find out the truth.

"Sure. Like I'm going to believe you. Just tell me already."

"No, really –"

"Seriously, Axel-"

"-it doesn't-"

"-if you don't just tell me-"

"-matter..."

"-I swear I'll..."

The pair both let their arguments die out. Roxas started to glare angrily at Axel, as if figuring that he'd be able to physically see into his friend's mind and discover what was bothering him. A moment or so passed, in which a large gaggle of students rushed passed, who were seemingly also late for class.

Internally Axel struggled with himself. It's not like he had such an open opportunity like this to tell Roxas every day. Who knows? Maybe if he just told Roxas he could finally get over it and move on... either that or the feisty blonde might remarkably return his feelings in which case Axel would coerce Roxas into skipping the rest of the school day so they could fool around in a closet together. A catch 22... or a win-win situation, depending on how you looked at it.

"The thing is, Roxas..." he made a low procrastinating sound in his throat akin to a strange gurgle, looking away, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

xxx

A/N:
yeah. I went there, i did that. Awesome place to stop the chapter yeh? :D i apologise for not uploading sooner... but having sudden freedom after 13 yrs of school made me just wanna go crazy and do anything and everything... whilst stupidly neglecting you readers :S so yeeeeaaaah. sorry about that