Well, look at this. I'm back with another AkuRoku. This'll probably be a threeshot, a little While You Were Sleeping, a little Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul inspired. Don't ask me how I dunnit. Just kick back with a chocolate milkshake and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I have not been off fighting for my right to own Kingdom Hearts and its plot/characters. I have been changing diapers. Poo diapers.
I was dreaming when I wrote this/ So sue me if I go too fast
Notes: I am no doctor or even a student in the field of medicine or at all remotely smart about comas and stuff. So I'm really just BSing for the purposes of let's-not-make-it-that-serious-of-an-injury plot plot, k? It's probably impossible to 'slip in and out' of a coma. What do I know?
For more insight on the previous chapter and every one to come, check out my LiveJournal. The link is on my profile under homepage, and every entry related to review feedback and extra stuff for this fic will be public.
"That's easy. Those were the flowers Art brought Jenny when she was in the hospital."
Sora blinked. "Art and Jenny? Only Sunsets Art and Jenny?" he asked.
"It's Roxas's favorite movie," Axel shrugged. "We watched it together every Sunday night since we started seeing each other... but I guess he doesn't remember that now."
Sora felt a rush of sympathy. "According to Dr. Luna, the damage wasn't too heavy, so I'm sure that something soon will trigger everything back." He fidgeted. "Look... Roxas told me to ask you about the flowers, and he said if you didn't have a stupid answer he'd want to see you again. He's fine, really, but it's bothering him that he doesn't know how much he's changed in five months. If you were to visit him some more, and talk to him, it would help. And maybe he'd remember you again."
Axel's face was unreadable, and for a moment Sora worried that he was asking too much. Then the man grinned and reached out to pull him into a grateful embrace.
"I'm glad I finally met you, Sora. Though I would have preferred better circumstances."
Sora actually laughed as he pulled away. "Yeah... likewise." He chanced a glance back down the hall before speaking again. "Riku's coming from the islands tomorrow, and we're going to stay with Roxas for a few days until he gets settled back into his apartment. You're welcome to come whenever you have time."
Axel grinned. "Actually, I think it would be better if I went with you when you take him back there. He probably set the alarm before he left that day, and I don't know who else besides me knows the code, now."
Sora paled slightly. "Axel... how long have you been seeing my brother?"
"It would have been three months last week."
"Did you..." Sora found himself struggling for words as a thousand unwanted images filtered across his stream of thought.
"Sora," Axel said reassuringly, cutting off the mental bombardment, "It took me two weeks to kiss him. And I've never done more than he encouraged me beyond that, I swear."
Sora considered him for a moment, finally exhaling the tense breath he'd been holding and laughed a little nervously.
"Two weeks?"
"I'll tell you about it later, I promise. I have to get back to work, but Naminé has my number. Call me before you take Roxas home."
Sora watched as he walked out the doors, catching the eye of a pretty nurse or two, disappearing into the back of a limo.
"So in the five months that I've been gone, you still haven't had the guts to make a move on my brother?"
Sora had left the hospital room for a last meeting with Dr. Luna, full of questions about what he should do if Roxas started having headaches or if his sleeping pattern was off.
"I mean, I know when we were kids I used to get mad when you stole time with him away from me, but now..." Roxas smirked as he tied his shoes, glancing sidelong at his brother's would be boyfriend. Riku muttered something incoherent and made to grab Roxas's bags.
"Riku. I know you're in love with my brother. The whole island does. And you didn't come here to help me, even if we are friends. You came because he asked you to. And he asked you to because he loves you, too. And he needs you."
"It's not that simple," Riku said finally.
"Maybe it is."
"Maybe you don't get it."
"What's not to get?"
"Look... you're younger than both of us. By two years, at least. I know it's not that much, but before you learned how to swim Sora and I spent almost every afternoon on the beach, and eventually away from the main island on our on little island."
"You haven't been there in ages, Riku." Roxas countered. "If there's a point to this, get to it, already."
"That is the point! It's why we stopped going there..."
Roxas had never seen him like this, but he had the weirdest feeling that this wasn't the first time Riku tried to tell him. It could have been another thing he'd forgotten. But just as he was about to ask, Sora reentered, completely oblivious to what he'd just interrupted.
"Alright. Axel said he'd meet us there in about fifteen minutes, which gives us just enough time to get there," he announced, steering Roxas toward the door.
"Wait! Why is he meeting us there?"
"I told you already, he thinks you may have set your alarm before you left that day, and he's the only one who knows the code now."
"So why didn't you just ask him for it?!"
Riku grinned, obviously relieved that it was Roxas's turn to be flustered. "I thought you agreed to see him?" he asked lightly. Sora threw him a grateful smile.
"Not the minute I got out of here!"
"So I guess skating for Organization XIII pays well," Roxas murmured, staring at his modest penthouse. From the outside it was rust brick with a narrow stoop, double doors and two stories of windows. It looked very much like the other penthouses on that street, each of them a slightly different shade of red but all very neat and new looking.
"Axel's late," Riku added, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Sora.
"Traffic in the city is a lot heavier than on the islands, Riku. It's enough of an excuse."
To stall for time, Roxas shifted through the ring of keys returned to him that morning. The biggest he supposed went to the front door, but there was one that apparently belonged to an Oathkeeper, one that looked like a copied key, and two smaller ones. Seeing the mailbox affixed under his doorbell, he made the guess that only the mailman carried another small matching key. The first one he tried turned out to be the one, and inside the box was a small stack of letters and two magazines. Everything was addressed to him.
"Your paycheck will probably be in there," Came a voice at the bottom of the stairs. Axel had arrived as promised.
Roxas shut the box, clutching the mail to his chest. At the very least, they were evidence of his new life and identity.
"You going to open the door, or stare at my tie for the next half hour?" Axel asked, amused.
Inwardly, Roxas groaned. It was a nice tie, sage green and knotted immaculately, but something about it bothered him. "Whatever," he muttered, noting Sora and Riku's smirks. Assuming again that the largest key was to the front door, he deftly unlocked it, unusually satisfied when an alarm went off, piercing the air. He barely got a look around as he ducked in after Axel before he was steered to face the wall before the hall table. Axel pulled at a shadow box to reveal a code panel and deliberately punched in four digits.
"1-3-0-8," he said when the ringing stopped. Got it memorized?"
Roxas dearly wished he could kick him in the shin for the jibe, but controlled himself and nodded.
"If you forget, it'll turn off after a full minute and you'll get a phone call. The security company will ask you for the password. Tell them sunsets, and it'll clear from the police lines."
Roxas set the mail down on the hall table, thinking he'd have Sora help him go through it later. It was a relatively small place, but it was obvious that it was clean and furnished nicely. outside of the short hallway was a living room with a big screen television and at least three gaming consoles crammed under it. The coffee table was strewn with a few familiar titles, as well as some that were obviously new. Only Sunsets rested on the couch arm.
Sora walked past him into the kitchenette.
"So... wait," he said, examining the stocked pantry and the neat row of pots and pans hanging over the stove, "You cook now?"
Roxas shrugged, then turned to Axel reluctantly. "Do I?"
Axel grinned. "You pour cereal, Roxas. I do the real cooking."
Roxas squirmed.
"What are Roxas's favorite foods?" Riku interrupted. The question was followed by a tense silence.
"Pasta," Axel replied easily. "Especially with chicken. Fresh tomato in the sauce if he wants it red, on the side if it's white. Cheese pizza, sea salt ice cream, waffles with blueberry syrup. Black coffee with a drop of honey and hazelnut creamer..." he trailed off.
Roxas opened the pantry door in order to avoid staring. The middle shelf was crammed with different shaped pasta. Sora poked him in the ribs.
"Maybe it would be a good idea if Axel cooked for you soon, Roxas. Get some memory back through taste?" he suggested.
Roxas peeked over his shoulder at the taller man, eyes drawn instantly to the tie again. "Do you think...?"
"I'm sort of hoping it's not that simple," Axel cut in. "I'd be hurt if you were only with me because of my cooking."
"Roxas's stomach isn't bigger than his heart," Riku interjected.
"I know that," Axel said softly. "I have to go to a meeting right now, but I'll come cook for you on Monday."
"You don't have to accept that he's making an effort, Roxas."
"I kind of feel bad for him, though, Riku..."
Roxas sighed. "Look, I don't know what to think, but he hasn't given me any reason to dislike him yet. So it's okay if he wants to try. I just... don't know if I can be that Roxas again."
"His Roxas, you mean?" Sora prodded. "I talked to him for a little while on the phone this morning, and well... you saw it. He seems to know you just as well as I do."
"You can't have changed all that much in five months if you still list sea salt ice cream as your favorite and watch Only Sunsets every weekend, Roxas," Riku added. "Even in these interviews – " he held up a magazine they'd found stashed under the phonebook " – you sound exactly like yourself. Listen to this: 'Monochrome: If you weren't skating pro, where would you be right now? Ars: Probably back home on Destiny Islands, with my brother and our best friend, goofing off on the beach.' This was right after you got signed."
Roxas snatched the magazine out of Riku's hand and pursued the article. "How long did Axel say we'd been together?" he asked Sora.
"About three months."
Roxas frowned. "Do you think I would have mentioned him in another interview, or something?"
Sora shrugged. "I don't think so, Roxas. I do remember you telling me that you'd met someone, but I didn't ask for details because I know you don't like personal questions. But I think that being new to the pro circuit you would have wanted to keep it below the radar for a while. Axel, too."
"Why would Axel...?"
"You haven't asked him what he does, have you?" Riku cut in, reclaiming the magazine. "He manages Demyx, and to a lesser extent, he chairs Heartless Records."
Demyx himself stopped by the next day, completely comfortable with the fact that his best friend didn't remember him anymore.
"I got invited to the first competition you were in after being signed. You placed first, and I invited you to a dinner party," he explained. "After that I went to all of your competitions, and you came to one of my concerts."
"Did I meet Axel through you?"
Demyx laughed. "Uh... sort of."
Roxas frowned.
"You'll have to ask him. It's a great story. In fact, I think only me, Yuna and Naminé know. Axel pretty much made us promise not to go telling the media."
"Now I want to know," Riku said from the kitchenette, where he was digging through the freezer for sea salt ice cream.
"Ask Axel," Demyx insisted.
He couldn't stay long ("I have a songwriting session to get to, but call me tomorrow after you see Axel.") but by the time he'd left, Roxas had a bowl of his favorite ice cream and was wondering if he could bully Sora into watching Only Sunsets with him. But since Riku was there, he settled for watching them play Keyblade Hero II: Tourney of Worlds against each other. When he'd eaten two more bowls of ice cream and they decided to break in an unopened Goddess of Fate Championship Smackdown, he wandered down the hall to his room.
Surprisingly, it was a lot like his room back home, down to the rice paper lamp and the mess of papers over the computer keyboard. He'd examined them the day before. Most of them were phone numbers of people he didn't remember or scribbling of equations alongside rough diagrams of a stick figure soaring over a half pipe. The computer was his from back home, though the harddrive looked upgraded, and there was a new set of speakers. The password had been changed. Normally it was 61327X, a series of numbers and a letter that only meant anything to him, but he wondered if another number or letter had worked its way in lately.
"I'll figure it out tomorrow," he muttered, climbing into bed. It was bigger than his back home, but just as soft from his downy comforter. In the fabric he smelled a scent that was unfamiliar to him, a slight musk laced with a spice. The night before it had kept him up, but tonight he was sure that it was a cologne, and that thought didn't make sleep any easier. He wasn't the type to wear it.
Sora shook him awake, but it was the clutter of cooking noises coming from the kitchen that got him to open his eyes.
"He meant breakfast?"
Sora smiled. "How did you know it was Axel?"
Roxas grunted.
"He claims he's making your favorite Monday morning special, the same thing he makes you every Monday."
"It better be waffles," Roxas said finally, throwing the comforter aside in an irritated sort of way. After the initial shock, the scent had lulled him to sleep easily, and he almost hated to be torn from it. But there were probably waffles waiting.
Riku and Sora settled on the couch with their breakfast; cereal, toast, and coffee. Axel wasn't in a suit, and when Roxas came in he handed him a mug.
"Sorry for waking you up, but part of the special breakfast experience is pulling you out of bed at an ungodly hour for my own selfish reasons of wanting to see you before I disappear to work for the entire day."
Roxas grunted and took a sip. It was hot, but it was exactly as he liked it. And there were waffles.
"Axel..." he managed when he'd devoured one, "Why does my bed smell like you?" he asked bluntly, knowing he wouldn't like the answer.
"I sleep here on Sunday nights," Axel confessed. "Sometimes during the week if I can get away from work."
"Did... did we... when you...?" Roxas stumbled over the question.
"We came close," Axel admitted, scraping the waffle iron clean. "Just once, though. Before I had to go with Demyx to that concert in Land of Dragons, about three weeks ago."
Roxas stared at his breakfast.
"That... that wasn't the first thing I wanted to ask you about, actually... but the smell on my blankets was kinda distracting," he said at last.
"What was the first thing you wanted to ask me?" Axel took a seat opposite him, fixing his coffee exactly as he'd fixed Roxas's.
"I wanted to ask how we met." The waffles were good, he had to admit to himself, cutting up another and avoiding Axel's eyes.
"Well, that's an interesting story..." Axel began.
Don't' ask me why I decided to let one of Reno's friends tale the job of being my driver. He's my brother. What was I supposed to do? Anyway, this guy is too cautious. I yell at him from the back seat of the small limo to not take his time. Demyx isn't with me so he can be a little less scared of getting back to my place. I have roughly an hour to prepare for a meeting with the CEO about Demyx's first single.
The kid had talent. In fact, the bridge to the song had been running through my head all day and I wasn't sick of it at all. There was a line that went, And what kind of justice is there/ if I don't have a heart to give away? that was something special.
Just as I was thinking I'd have a drink and have another go at my driver, he turned onto Station Ave., and I prepared myself for the little drop. This part of town was almost like constantly going up and down ramps. I felt the brakes slip and a second later something hit the side of the limo and the driver swerved to a stop.
Up until that point it had been a good day.
Then someone wrenched the door open. A very short, blonde and irritable someone, brandishing a skateboard at me.
"You jerk! Tell your driver to take it easy coming down the hill!" he hollered. "You just mauled my new board!"
The board was pretty worse for wear, one of the wheels almost pushed clean off the socket, and a pressured split almost cutting it in half lengthwise.
Not having the patience for a kid, I pulled out a checkbook.
"Seeing as you're not injured and therefore not in need of medical assistance, I'll just write you a check and you can buy yourself a new board, okay?" I said, writing out an amount that not quite doubled what he would need. There was something to be done about calming him down enough to ignore a lawsuit, after all.
"Oh, no," he retorted, ripping my checkbook away and thrusting the skateboard at me, settling into the seat beside me. "You're taking me to the shop down the street and buying me whatever I want."
I had to admire the kid for his guts, though it looked as though he was shaking from nerves and after panic as much as anger.
"Down the street?" I repeated.
"Right now, before I decide to press charges. Hit and run and all that."
I laughed.
"Fine, kid. I'll buy you a new board. Whatever you want. Customized, if it'll shut you up."
He seemed to simmer down at that and kicked the driver's seat. "Cid's Item Shop," he commanded. "It's just down the street on your left after two lights."
"I only figured out the next day that you were actually that new kid Organization XIII just signed. Demyx brought you to the dinner party after you placed first that first competition – on the board I bought you – and introduced us."
Roxas grinned wryly at his empty plate. "Did you say anything?"
"Not a word."
"What about me?"
Axel gathered the dishes and put them in the sink, running warm water over them to rinse away the syrup.
"I think were both preferred to keep it a shared secret from the start."
notes: This will officially be updated every two weeks.