Author's Note: Hello again, my darlings! Not much to say other than the fact that I apologize for the long delay - school is eating my soul - and that I thank everyone who has reviewed/faved/alerted this story so far. I'm glad to know you're enjoying it. All right, go read now!
Chapter Four: He who hesitates is lost.
~::~
"Roxas Roxas Roxas Roxas!"
"Sora, what the hell do you want?" The blonde boy groaned and rolled over in his bed to see his brother bouncing up and down next to his bed, his face alight with excitement.
"Your letter came! It's downstairs!"
It took Roxas's sleepy mind a moment to register this news. Once it did, however, he leapt out of bed and raced down to the kitchen to find a pristine white envelope sitting at his place at the kitchen table. Slowly, almost reverently, he walked forwards and sat down, picking up the thick package.
His father, reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee across from him, raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to open it?"
"I… Yeah," Roxas carefully tore open the flap and pulled out a surprisingly large stack of papers. "Wow. That's a lot of paper."
"I think they sent you a dictionary by mistake," Sora joked as he came in and plopped down next to his brother. "Go on, read it! I wanna know what it says!"
Roxas's eyes scanned the words on the page in front of him. Sora watched in confusion as his brother's eyes grew wider and wider as the seconds ticked away. Finally, the brunette could bear it no longer and exclaimed, "Your eyes look like dinner plates! What does it say?"
"Holy freaking crap," Roxas breathed, hands shaking as he handed the letter to his brother and pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.
Sora's jaw hit the floor and he dropped the piece of paper. "You're shittingme. No way in hell can they pay you that much for one movie!"
"Sora," Cloud warned, not particularly fond of obscenities being uttered in his house.
Tifa, upon hearing her older son's startled exclamation, rushed over. "What's wrong, honey?"
"Roxas is gonna get paid sixty-five grand for this stunt double job, not to mention the fact that the college I go to has extended a full scholarship offer to him!" Sora pointed to his brother. "That's totally not fair!"
Roxas was still in shock, staring at the table in front of him, hands clasped tightly in his lap. His brother's words echoed in his head. Sixty-fivegrand.Collegescholarship. There was no way this was really happening.
Tifa and Cloud both stared at their younger son, stunned speechless. Before he could even move, Tifa pounced on him and began smothering him with a tight hug. "Oh, my little baby, I'm so proud! Who would've thought this kind of opportunity would ever come along? I'm so happy for you!"
"Mom! Choking!" Roxas gasped. His mother released him and kissed him on the forehead before backing off. "I… I really don't know what to do. There's a lot of stuff to read here, and I need some time to let all of this sink in… Can I go back to my room?"
"Of course, dear," his mother said with a sweet smile.
The blonde boy stood and collected all of the papers and the envelope they had come in. Sora followed him up the stairs and grabbed him before he could enter his room. "Hey, I want to say something to you."
"What, Sora?" Roxas asked, exasperated.
"He who hesitates is lost."
Roxas gave him a quizzical look. "Since when did you start getting all philosophical? Did you get high off Sharpies again?"
Sora chuckled, clearly remembering that little incident a couple of years earlier, the main reason he was no longer allowed to own one of said writing utensils. "No, not this time. But… It's something Riku said to me once, when he asked me out for the first time. He said that people miss so many good opportunities when they wait too long to make a decision. I don't want to make you biased or anything, but… seriously, I think you should accept. When's the next time you're ever going to get an offer like this? People don't go around just handing out sixty-five thousand dollars and a college scholarship. Just… think about it, okay?" With that, Sora disappeared downstairs, leaving a very surprised Roxas standing in the doorway to his room.
~::~
"Are we there yet?"
The other occupants of the car groaned.
"For the thirty-fourth time, Sora, no, we are not there yet."
The Strife family was on their way to the airport to see Sora and Roxas off. After almost a week of careful deliberation and weighing the potential outcomes of the choice he was going to make, Roxas had deemed that he'd much rather have the money and a good college education along with a few unknown events rather than have to pay his way through college and live his usual, predictable life. The wait between then and now, almost a whole month, had been excruciatingly slow.
Sora grumbled something under his breath and slumped down in his seat, staring moodily out the window. Roxas rolled his eyes and half-heartedly poked around in his bag to find something to entertain himself with. However, before too much longer, their father announced, "All right, Sora, now we're here."
"Yay!" Sora leapt out of the car about half a second after it stopped moving and began dragging all of the suitcases in the trunk out and dumping them onto the pavement. "Come on! Riku said he's gonna be waiting for us!"
"Give me that!" Roxas rolled his eyes as he grabbed his suitcase from his brother before it got thrown onto the haphazard pile of bags. "You two are ridiculous. Ever since you came out to us, you've been talking almost non-stop on the phone. Don't you ever get tired of hearing each other?"
"It's love!" Sora said dreamily, batting his eyelashes at his brother. "You're too young to understand it yet."
"You idiot, I'm only a year younger than you!" the younger boy protested.
"Whatever. Younger is younger," The brunette shrugged and grabbed his bags. "But really, come on. Riku said if that if you make me late, he'll sic Axel on you."
"Oh, shit no!" Roxas took off for the walkway that led to the main building of the airport.
"Who's Axel, and why is Roxas so afraid of him?" Tifa questioned her other son.
Sora smirked to himself. "Oh, he's just a friend of Riku's."
Once they were all inside, Sora led the way to the spot where he said Riku would be waiting for him. The threat of being molested by Axel still hanging over his head like a crimson-haired cloud of doom, Roxas followed behind him quickly, making his parents exchange confused looks and leaving Sora red-faced from trying not to laugh.
Suddenly, about halfway down the terminal, Sora dropped all of his things and went sprinting forwards, shouting elatedly, "Riiiiiiiiiikuuuuuuuuu!" The silverette barely had time to recognize the brown blur before it struck him with the force of a small hurricane, knocking him off his feet and sending them both crashing to the ground. Sora ended up on top of his boyfriend, knees either side of his hips and hands planted next to his head. "Hi."
Much to Roxas's surprise, instead of freaking out, Riku acted as if this happened on a daily basis, which the blonde got the eerie feeling actually did. "Hey, Sor. How've you been?"
"In the last two hours since I called you? Bored," the brunette responded, picking himself up and offering a hand to the other boy. "You?"
"Hungry," Riku replied, brushing himself off and ignoring the strange looks from passers-by at the scene that had just unfolded. "Once we get on the plane, I'm probably going to eat the entire fridge."
"Fine, but if you touch my pudding, I'll hurt you!" Roxas knew from experience that this was a very, very serious threat. The first time he'd accidentally eaten his brother's favorite dessert, he'd had a black eye for a week.
"Okay!" the silverette squeaked, obviously knowing the dire consequences should he deem to steal any of Sora's precious pudding.
Roxas and his parents walked over to where the two boys were standing. Cloud nodded to Riku and Tifa gave him one of her bone-crushing hugs. Roxas merely tilted his head up in acknowledgment.
"So, which plane are we taking?" Sora asked excitedly.
Riku shook his head. "I told you earlier, remember? We're taking my private jet."
Roxas stared at him in shock. "How rich are you?"
"Be polite!" Tifa tapped him sharply on the head with her fist.
"Ouch, Mom! Sorry. When are we leaving?" the blonde apologized.
Riku looked down at the pile of luggage in front of him. "As soon as we can get all of these checked and on the plane. I'm going to warn you now, it's a long trip, and-"
"Well, hey there, Roxie. Nobody told me you were joining our little party," A shiver of disgust and fear raced down Roxas's spine as a thin but surprisingly strong arm slung itself over his shoulders. A flash of crimson in the corner of his eye confirmed his worst suspicions. Axel's voice dropped to a whisper as he continued, lips tickling the shell of the blonde boy's ear. "Y'know, we're gonna have a lot of down time on that plane… Let's have a party and invite your pants to come on down."
Roxas turned scarlet and flailed helplessly against the redhead, who, without a word, picked him up and carried him over to the gate that led to Riku's private jet. "Calm down, kid, I'm not gonna rape you. Can't a guy have a little fun every now and then? I find it so entertaining to make you squirm."
"Sora, help!" Roxas squealed. "Get him off me!"
The brunette boy rolled his eyes and walked over to the two of them, grabbing Axel by the wrist and dragging him back to where his parents were standing next to Riku, looks of utter confusion plastered on their faces. "Sorry, Mom, Dad. This is Axel, Riku's friend and another one of the actors in the movie Roxas is going to be in. Ventus, the other lead male… Hey, where is Ventus?"
"Eraqus wouldn't let him leave," Axel replied, a note of distaste in his voice. "Something about him being too young and too famous to be going out in public with no one but two other equally young and famous people as his companions. He obviously forget that I'm two years older than both of you."
"Quit reminding me," Riku grumbled. "Anyways, we'd better be going now if we want to make it to our destination before Saix decides to murder us for tardiness. It was nice seeing you again, Mr. and Mrs. Strife. I promise we'll take good care of Roxas while he's at the studio."
Roxas, who had just walked back over, was immediately smothered by his mother again. She had tears in her eyes when she pulled back. "I can't believe my baby is finally going to college, and also to work in Hollywood, no less! Be safe, hon. You too, Sora, dear." She hugged her other son and then stood back so Cloud could say his goodbyes.
"Like your mother said, be safe," The blonde man clapped both of his sons on their backs and then nodded to the two other boys standing to the side. "If anything happens to either of them, I'm holding you two responsible."
Axel and Riku both saluted and then hurried towards the gate, not wanting to further incur the wrath of the notorious ex-military officer. Roxas and Sora followed with their bags, taking one last glance at their parents before stepping into the gate.
Both boys nearly died of happiness when they saw the inside of Riku's plane for the first time. There was a full-size fridge stuffed with food, a video game console hooked up to a huge flat-screen TV, several fluffy bean bag chairs, and an enormous sofa piled with cushions.
"Dude, how rich are you?" Sora gasped, instantly throwing himself onto one of the bean bags. "This is awesome!"
Riku smirked. "I don't think I'm at liberty to say. My lawyer doesn't like me flaunting my wealth."
"Yeah, like you need to brag about anything else…" Axel muttered under his breath.
"For that, I'm throwing all of your Chinese food out of the window." Riku walked towards a door at the end of the room and the redhead stared at him in horror for a split second before lunging at him. Axel managed to grab his ankles and bring him crashing to the floor. The two boys tussled for a few moments until the door opened and a tall, muscular man with short, unruly brown hair entered. Upon seeing the boys rolling around on the ground, cursing at each other vehemently, he sighed and shook his head before picking them both up by the collars and holding them apart.
"You stupid red-… Oh. Hi, Lexaeus," Riku instantly calmed down, seeming as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "Sorry. Axel jumped me."
"You threatened my food!" the redhead exclaimed indignantly.
As the two boys continued to quarrel, Roxas glanced at his brother, who was trying desperately not to laugh. "Are they always like this?"
"Pretty much," Sora responded. "You get used to it after about a week."
Lexaeus set down the two boys he was holding and then, after giving them both very stern glances, returned to where he was before. Riku immediately went and flopped down on one of the bean bag chairs next to Sora, giving the other boy a wide smile. Roxas watched his brother for a few moments, a twinge of jealousy making his heart ache, before he went and sat down on the couch. Axel disappeared through the door and returned a few seconds later with several different kinds of food in his hands. He tossed a package of pudding and a couple of spoons to the two on the bean bags, and then, of course, decided to sprawl out on the sofa Roxas was occupying, his feet landing squarely in the blonde boy's lap.
"Move your feet, please," Roxas gritted out, trying to ignore the weight of the redhead's probably size twenty-something shoes on his thigh.
"No can do, Roxie," Axel replied, cracking open a can of soda. "You're on my couch."
Roxas glared at him. "That's funny. I didn't see your name on it."
Axel didn't respond for a few moments as he shoved a couple of chocolate chip cookies in his mouth. Finally, he said, abruptly changing the subject, "You know, green's really not your color." The shorter boy glanced down at his dark green hoodie, a slight frown furrowing his eyebrows. "You know what would look good on you?"
Roxas stole a can of soda from the redhead and opened it, taking a huge swig to avoid answering for a moment. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and replied, "No, I don't. Since you seem to know so much, what do you suggest?"
"Me."
The blonde choked on the liquid he had just poured into his mouth and the carbonated drink spewed out of his mouth, drenching the front of his clothes. He coughed and then nearly dropped his drink when Axel's foot dug into a certain area that he would much rather not be touched. Roxas tried to wriggle out from under the sneakers on top of him, but he was trapped between them and the arm of the sofa, much to his dismay.
"Axel!" Riku said sharply, wiping the grin off of his friend's face. "Stop terrorizing him! He's obviously not going to sleep with you, so just give up and spare the rest of us a lot of annoyance."
Roxas, upon realizing that Riku had said those dreaded words, managed to push Axel off the couch and dove behind the bean bag chair where his brother was sitting, now scared out of his wits. "Keep him away from me! I swear to God, if he tries to even touch me, I'll cut off-"
"Roxas."
"-his dick and shove it-"
"Roxas."
"-into the hole in his face and make him eat the damn thing!"
"Roxas!" Sora shouted. Roxas blinked up at him from his place on the floor. "Dude, calm the fuck down. Like, really. We won't let anything happen to you. Besides, Axel could go to jail for that, so Saix would kill him if he ever found out."
"The creepy blue-haired dude?" the younger boy asked, sitting up. "Well, that's kind of reassuring, I guess. I don't care as long as he stays away from me."
The remainder of the next few hours was spent in awkward silence, Sora and Riku not wanting to bother the other two boys, both of who seemed exceedingly pissed-off and liable to snap if pushed any further. Axel had shoved his head phones into his ears and had his music turned up so loud that the others could hear it clearly from across the room. Roxas sat in the opposite corner, trying to read one of the books he brought with him, but he was too distracted by trying to make sure that Axel hadn't moved in the last five seconds since he checked.
It was only upon their disembarking from Riku's private jet that any of the boys decided it was safe to speak again. Sora immediately began chattering away to Riku about how excited he was to see everyone again. Roxas and Axel made a point not to look at each other as they stepped through the gate into the airport terminal, following behind Sora, Riku, and Lexaeus, who Roxas took to be their bodyguard.
When they finally got out of the busy place, a limo was waiting for them. Saix was standing nearby, shuffling through a packet of papers. He looked up when the group stopped in front of him. "Ah, I'm happy to see you arrived on time. Please get into the car. It'll only be a few more minutes until we get to your accomodations."
Lexaeus took the passenger's seat and Sora and Riku shared one of the longer seats in the back, leaving Axel and Roxas to sit together. The redhead glanced down at the blonde as he sat, back ramrod straight, body angled as far away from him as possible while wearing a seatbelt.
"You know, I'm not going to just throw you down somewhere and rape you," Axel informed him, slinging an arm over the top of the seat. "I've got higher standards than that, as hard to believe as it is."
"I'm not sure whether to be reassured or slightly creeped out by you," Roxas replied, lips curling in disgust at the very thought of that scenario.
"Being both is fine by me, just so long as you don't… remove certain parts of my anatomy. I kind of need that," the redhead replied, wincing.
"Fine," When he noticed the hopeful start of a smile on Axel's face, Roxas immediately took counteractive measures. "But I still don't like you."
"Well, shit."
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Author's Note: I don't want to sound like I'm begging, but I really do appreciate reviews. They let me know if I'm doing something right, or if there's something that needs to be fixed. So, what do you think so far?