Let more evil awesomeness begin!
Roxas: You need to stop talking to LovelessHyde.
No! She gives good ideas! I own nothing~!
Riku was behind the counter of the shop he worked at while his boss dealt with the guy who delivered their stock. The day was slow; only a handful of people came in today since the place opened and he was extremely board out of his mind, hell he finished all his homework without one interruption! Unless he counted Del coming in to flirt with him, again! He just ignored her as he continued his work really, not wanting to deal with her in general.
But now that the store was practically empty and silent Riku didn't know what to do with himself. Or at least he didn't until his favorite brunette came running into the store.
"Riku! I need your help! Majorly!" he exclaimed, slamming his hands on the counter for dramatic emphasis.
The silverette chuckled, "What is it Sora?"
"Kairi's birthday is in three days, and I have no idea what to get her! I'm beggin' ya, help me!" he cried clasping his hands and sinking to his knees.
Riku burst out laughing even more at his friend's desperateness, "You're acting like your life is on the line! Cool your jets Sora!" he took a few breaths to calm his laughing before he spoke again, "Okay, now repeat your dilemma."
"I need a great gift for Kairi for her birthday this weekend but I have no idea what she would like. And don't laugh at me anymore!" Sora pouted.
The older boy shook his head, "Sor, Kairi will like anything you give her. As long as it's decent."
Sora made a face as a memory from earlier popped into his head, "Yeah, not like Tidus's suggestion."
"What'd Tidus say?" Riku asked out of pure curiosity.
The brunette swallowed "He said I should give her my virginity." He muttered.
Riku stared wide-eyed at the answer he received. He expected to feel angered at such a suggestion, but he couldn't bring himself to feel said emotion, especially since it came from Tidus's mouth! Maybe if it were someone else who said it he'd see red. But at the moment he burst into a fit of laughter so strong he collapsed on the counter holding his stomach and trying to breath.
"Why is it so funny to you? He said that in front of Kairi and Selphie! Do you know how embarrassing that is?" Sora shouted.
Riku took a few breaths but his laughter didn't subside so easily "Sora, this… came from Tidus's mouth! Tidus! He's… gonna say something… completely stupid!" he said between his fit of laughter.
Sora continued to pout as his friend continued to laugh. Finally Sora couldn't help it anymore, it was Tidus after all and pretty much anything he said was stupid, so it was hard not to laugh once that fact set in. So he found himself laughing along with Riku for a good five minutes before they decided to get their breath back, and that took longer than they expected because one of them always started laughing again making the other follow suit.
"Okay seriously," Sora breathed as he straightened himself up again "What should I get her?" he asked.
"Well, if you want I'm giving her something we can both put our names on." Riku said.
Sora perked up, "What? What are you giving her?"
"I'm making her a cake, everything's gonna be made from scratch."
"You're making her a cake? That doesn't seem like a practical gift Ri."
"Well I talked to her mom yesterday and she thinks it's a good idea. I'm kinda strapped for cash right now anyway since I'm paying for rentals." Riku explained.
Sora's head tilted to the side, "Rentals? For what?"
"I have to come up with some new songs, which means I'll be need more instruments than just my guitar and more space than my bedroom. Or did you forget we're the entertainment for the Paopu Fest?"
"Oh yeah! Makes sense then. What kind of cake are you making her?"
"Angel's food with strawberry filling and mango icing."
"All that from scratch? That's gonna be hell Riku!"
"Not really. I'm using my grandmother's recipe, not hard at all. I get off in like fifteen minutes and I already have everything I need to make it, so come over to my place and we can get started."
Sora smiled and nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Imma go home and change. I'll see ya later." Sora ran out of the store and headed home.
The day was perfect for a solo walk home, the sky so blue with the light ocean breeze thrown into the mix. He passed the park that was on the way to his house and saw some children playing with their parents, siblings or whoever, and even some dogs, it reminded Sora of when he was a kid and he always played with his friends. Their favorite game back in the day was something Sora made up called "Secret Agent"; he also remembered how Riku always won.
He continued on home just enjoying the peace around him until, just his luck, he was stopped by Del "Uh… H-hi Del. What's up?" he stuttered feeling quite afraid of the four of five guys behind her, one of them he knew to be her big brother.
"Just who the hell do you think you are Sora?" she snapped putting her hands on her hips and sticking her nose in the air.
Sora took a step back, "What do you mean?"
Del took two steps forward making him step back again, "You know what I mean! Who the hell do you think you are chatting it up with Riku all the time? It's gone on long enough Sora, time to stop! Riku has his own life to live and he doesn't need you holding him back!"
"I'm not holding him back from anything! So I talk to him, big deal! He's my best friend and you can't stop me from seeing him no matter what you do!" Sora snapped.
"Oh you think so? Well, maybe I can't do anything. But Jenn can, can't you big brother?"
At the mention of his name, Del's brother stepped forward. He was as tall as Riku with tan colored hair held in a pony tail tied at the mid-back of his head, black eyes like his sister, and a tribal tattoo that looked like a scorpion under his right eye.
Sora gulped and stepped back a little more. He never got bullied by Jenn before, verbally or otherwise, but he heard stories from those who had been his victims and they were enough to make him fear the guy. The only time he heard of anyone beating him in a fight was Riku; he wished his friend would show up right now before anything happened.
"Come on Jenn, it's not like I was hurting her. You know it." Sora murmured.
"Yeah, I know it." Jenn nodded then grabbed Sora's shirt collar and punched him in the stomach hard enough to make him fall to his knees "Consider that a warning though. Del complains to me again I'll do a lot worse, and I'll have help." He hissed.
With that the group walked away with Del cackling like a witch, leaving Sora on the ground holding his stomach with one arm wincing in pain on the verge of tears. He tried to get up but it proved useless as he kept collapsing.
"Sora?" footstep bounded up to him and he felt hands on his shoulders "Sora what the hell happened? Who did this to you?"
Sora looked to his left and saw Riku looking at him with concern "Riku… Where… were you when I needed you?" he asked coughing between his words.
"Sorry. Who did this to you? Give me the name." Riku said helping his friend onto his back.
Sora coughed again before answering, "Je-Jenn."
"Jenn? Del's brother Jenn?" Riku growled in the back of his throat. When he had Sora on his back properly he started walking, "You're staying at my house tonight. I'll go to your house and explain everything to your mom. I'll bring your stuff back. I know how Jenn fights and I can tell he got you pretty bad. You're not moving around until tomorrow, understand?"
Sora nodded weakly, "Thanks Riku…"
Once they got to Riku's house Riku laid Sora on his bed, took off his shoes, and removed his tie "Where did Jenn hit you?" he asked. Sora raised a hand to gingerly touched his stomach and Riku raised his shirt with care "I'm gonna get you some ice then I'll head to your house." He said getting up and heading for the kitchen.
A few minutes later he came back with an icepack wrapped in a hand towel and placed it on Sora's exposed stomach, "There, that should keep a bruise from forming. Lye still until I get back okay."
"Okay. Thanks again Riku, for helping me." Sora murmured.
Riku left the house again starting for Sora's house. He was completely pissed off at Jenn and at himself. Some of his anger directed at Del too because it was likely she got her bastard brother to do that to Sora. Thankfully it was only one hit, but still, Sora got hurt for who knows what reason! Riku wasn't going to let that go unpunished. The very millisecond he saw Jenn he was gonna kick his ass! Again! And if Del was with him he'd tear her a new one on how much of a real bitch she was.
He felt the palms of his hands heating up as if they were holding fire; that meant Axel was pissed too "What's got you as fired up as I am?" he asked, as if he didn't already know.
[Whoever this Jenn guy is, he's dead! By hurting Sora he hurt Roxas and I won't stand for it! No one touches my Roxy!]
"We can't do anything about it right now Axel so cool it, literally. If fire bursts from my palms I'm breaking our deal and I know you don't want that." Riku warned.
He heard axel sigh in irritation and the heat in his palms cooled, [I'm sorry. But thinking that someone even thought of hurting Roxas while I wasn't there to protect him, while I couldn't do anything at all… It makes me feel helpless. It burns me up that I couldn't do anything for the one I love.]
X_X_X_X_X
Sora had fallen asleep not too long after Riku left, the pain in his stomach numbed and no longer bothering him thanks to the icepack and his sudden drowsiness. Drowsiness that sent him tumbling into another dreamscape consisting of his Nobody's memories.
Xemnas had called the members of the Organization for an important meeting, a meeting concerning those who had been sent to Castle Oblivion. Roxas kept his head down because he had already heard about what had happened, he didn't need to hear it again, he didn't need to hear that Axel was dead.
"I wish I could say I called all of you here under pleasing circumstances, but I am afraid that I must disappoint you all. I have received important information about our fellow members who were stationed at Castle Oblivion. They all have, unfortunately, been eliminated." Xemnas said gravely.
Roxas winced. If hearing it from Saïx, who was quite unsympathetic, the first time hurt, the second time hearing it, and in such a tone, really hit hard. Gasps and murmurs filled the room, everyone accept Xemnas, Saïx, and Roxas looked at each other.
"Dammit all!" Demyx screamed, jumping from his chair and running out of the room.
Roxas stared after him wondering why he was so upset when he heard Xigbar speak, "Poor kid, of course he would take it this hard."
"Well what do you expect? We all knew how close he was to Zexion. I knew it would be a bad idea to send him Superior." Luxord said.
"What's done is done. We can't do anything about it." Xemnas said in a solemn tone.
Roxas got down from his chair and followed after Demyx finding the Melodious Nocturne in his room playing his sitar while looking at a picture on his nightstand, a picture of him and Zexion. The song he was playing sounded familiar to the younger blonde, he had heard Demyx playing it many times in the Gray Room, and it was meant to sound happy. But the way Demyx was playing it now made it sound forlorn.
"Sabishiku natta hana no yoni
ore wa sukoshi shita o muku
sabishiku natta hoshi no yoni
yuuhi abite
sore kara mou sumashita kao de
dareka ni AH sabishikunai tto
tsubuyaki sugiru
Hora aoi sora fukaku yoru no hate
mada mienu kagayaki ga mayotteru
sou me ni wa todokanai shinjitsu ga
konno hiroi sora no hate mayotteru
Setsunaku natta kaze no yoni
ore wa kyuu ni yoko o muku
setsunaku natta umi no yoni
nami ni yurete
sore kara mou furi mukanai tto
kimi ni wa AH aenaku naru tto
sayonara tsugeru
Hora itsuka kikasareta odoki dane
mada ai mo yasashisa mo shinjiteta
sou me ni wa todokanai shinjitsu ga
konno sekai oou hi o shinjiteta"
Demyx was in full blown tears and sobs by the time he finished the song. He put his sitar aside, brought his knees to his chest, and picked up the picture "Why Zexion? This wasn't supposed to happen… You don't deserve this…"
"Dem?" Roxas called quietly.
The dirty blonde looked at his doorway to see the Organization's youngest member looking at him with concern "He-hey Rox." He wiped the tears from his eyes "Sorry y-you have to see me like this." He choked.
Roxas walked into the room and sat next to the superior member "Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked gently.
At first Demyx was silent. He bit his bottom lip to hold back tears but there was no stopping them "It's just… Hearing that Zexion's dead… it hurts you know. I love him, really love him." He sobbed.
Roxas blinked in confusion, "Love him? But… Demyx, we don't have hearts. How could you?"
Demyx laughed sadly, but he sounded amused at Roxas's response, "Aw Rox, we do to have hearts. In the Organization, it's just a matter of whether or not you choose to actually use it."
A few days after his talk with Demyx, Roxas found himself on top of Twilight Town's clock tower thinking about what he was told as he had been since that night. He was confused; if they had hearts why were they told otherwise? He just didn't understand.
"Whether or not we choose to actually use it huh? So that means… Whatever I may feel for Axel," he touched his chest where his "nonexistent" heart would be "It could be real?" he wondered aloud.
"What could be real, huh Roxy?"
Roxas jumped and looked behind him to see… He couldn't believe it. Hair redder than fire spiked up and back in a crazy way, piercing green eyes framed by eyeliner glowing with that ever so familiar smirk, and those purple tattoos in the shape of flipped teardrops under those eyes, Axel was standing there.
Roxas stood up slowly as he took in the sight, thinking that he could have fallen asleep while watching the sunset and was just dreaming.
"Why the silent treatment? Not happy to see me?" Axel asked stepping towards his friend.
"I… I heard you were…" Roxas trailed off as he continued to stare at what he thought was a figment of his imagination.
"Eliminated? Dead? Nope! I can't be taken down that easily, got it memorized?" Axel said, that smirk never leaving his face.
Roxas stepped toward the redhead, reaching out to touch the leather clad chest to see if his hand would go through. He felt a solid chest rising and falling with breaths under his touch "You're here." He whispered.
Axel's smirk morphed into a smile, "Yeah I'm here. What, did you think I'd actually leave you alone?" The blonde looked up into his friend's eyes and that was when Axel noticed tears, his smile fell "Roxas, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." He said bringing the smaller boy to him in a warm hug.
Roxas felt something in him jump but he pressed himself closer to the taller body in front of him, 'Let this be real, please let this be real!' he thought desperately.
Axel pulled back enough to look at his friend's face, "You still doubt it don't you?"
Blushing guiltily Roxas looked at their shoes like they were most interesting thing in the world, "I'm sorry, but after hearing from Superior and Saïx that you were… I just… Please prove to me this is real!" he cried burying his face in Axel chest and clutching the back of the leather jacket desperately.
The redhead place a hand on the smaller one's head and draped his other arm around his shoulders, "Roxas, look at me."
Sniffling Roxas raised his head to meet his friend's eye, only to feel warm lips press against his own making him feel something in him jump again. The pair against his moved slowly and gently, giving the other time to move away if he wanted. There was no heat or desperation, no lust or demand, questioning as it may have been it gave Roxas a warm feeling he didn't want to lose or forget. This feeling, this moment, he wanted time to stop just so he could savor it.
He tightened his hold around Axel's back and kissed him back with the same gentleness used on him and he smiled into it, they both did.
Slowly Axel broke away, still smiling at him "Believe it now?" he whispered.
"I love you." Roxas said quietly.
The redhead gasped and blinked a few times, then he couldn't hold back the smile crossing his face, "Well, if you just didn't make me the happiest Nobody to exist." He kissed Roxas's forehead "I love you too Roxas." He opened a portal next to them "Let's RTC."
They went through the portal and found themselves in Axel's room. Roxas sat on the bed and looked at the redhead, "You know, we've done a lot together. You know what I mean right?"
Axel sat next to him and laid back, "Yeah I do."
"You've never said that before. That you love me. Exactly how long have you felt that way?" Roxas asked.
"I dunno, it felt like a long time to me. Like years. If you're wondering why I'm saying it now, consider this: You never actually said anything either."
Roxas nodded in agreement, "I know, I just wasn't sure. It's hard to be if we supposedly don't have hearts."
Axel took hold of his lover's arm and gently pulled him down so that the boy was laying on half of him "We've said it now. That's should be all that matters now, right?" he said rubbing the boy's back.
"Yeah." Roxas laid his head on the Flurry's chest "I really missed you."
"I missed you too."
Sora's eyes opened slowly and his ears were filled with the soft sound of guitar strings being plucked and strummed, gentle and even humming accompanying it. He looked over to where the sounds were coming from and saw Riku sitting in the chair at his desk with his guitar on his knee, his computer was on and he had a program open which meant he was recoding a song, which meant he had already wrote a new one that would be used in the Paopu Festival.
"Riku?"
Riku looked at Sora without stopping his finger movements, "Finally awake?"
Sora sat up, "How long was I out?" he noticed the icepack was gone.
"It's just gone dark, so a while but not too long. We can still start the cake icing and filling, maybe get it done tonight. We don't have classes tomorrow since everyone's spending the time to get ready for the festival."
Sora nodded then noticed his duffle bag on the floor, "You went to my house already too. What did my mom say?"
Riku shrugged as he finished playing, "She freaked out a little until I told her the bright side of the incident, then she pulled the whole 'what would Sora do without you' sentiment. Typical Lee Mei."
"Yeah. So what's your new song? It sounded nice." Sora commented, standing to retrieve the duffle bag.
"You like it huh? I won't really have a name for it until I get the lyrics down. I was just working on what I wanted the melody to sound like." Riku explained.
"Do you know what kind of lyrics you want?" Sora asked taking some clothes out.
"I'll worry about that tomorrow." He stood up and opened his door "Come to the kitchen when you're changed, I ordered pizza." He said walking out.
At the word "pizza" Sora quickly changed and ran into the kitchen as soon as Riku pulled a plate from the microwave, a slice of sausage pizza on it "It's been so long since I've had good pizza! The kind they serve at school sucks." Sora said taking the plate.
Riku smirked, "Then you should be really happy about this pizza then."
Sora blinked in confusion but shrugged it off and took a bite, moaning at its taste. He loved the way the warmed cheese practically oozed off the slice, that meant Riku asked for extra on it.
Riku waited patiently for Sora to finish the pizza, everything he needed for the icing and filling of Kairi's cake set out on the counters waiting to be used. He couldn't help but smirk when Sora got to the crust; the brunette's eyes widened at the bite he took and he pulled the crust from his mouth to see… "You got stuffed crust?" he exclaimed.
"I did."
"You're the best Riku!"
"Thanks for thinking so. Now finish that, drink your soda, and help me with this."
Sora did as he was told and washed his hands before joining Riku at the counters "So what are my orders captain?" he joked.
"Your orders, soldier, are to follow these instructions to make the icing for Princess Kairi's cake to perfection! I will be checking so don't fail me" Riku said handing his friend a recipe card.
Sora gave a solute, "Rodger!"
They got too work; Sora making the mango icing and Riku making the strawberry filling. Sora had to ask for help a few times but was able to handle everything himself overall. When they were done Riku tested both of them to make sure each was done right which made Sora nervous; he knew how to bake and cook, but he never really had to do anything from scratch completely. But he relaxed when Riku nodded in satisfaction.
"Alright Sora, the frosting came out excellent. Now we can put them in the fridge so they can settle and we'll be able to use them tomorrow once we have the cake done."
"Great! So what do we do now? It's still kinda early to go to bed."
"Well I did think of a few lyrics while we were working. Wanna hear?" Riku asked.
Sora nodded his head vigorously and sped back to his friend's room. Riku shook his head and smiled at his friend childish antics but followed back to his room. Sora was sitting on the bed cross-legged with an eager expression on his face. The silverette sat in the chair at his desk, took up his guitar, and started with a steady plucking as he sang the lyrics he thought of.
"Nureta hitomi no oku aoi tsuki wa
shizuka ni kobore ochite yuku"
The plucking morphed into a rhythmic strumming as he continued singing,
"Azayaka na sekai wa oto mo naku
shizuka ni yami ni kiete yuku
Byou yomi no naka kake meguru yami no naka o
soshite arata naru toki o mukae ima ..."
"Wow Riku, those are awesome!" Sora cheered.
"Yeah, if you say so. But those are all I got so far." Riku said putting his guitar back.
"They're amazing Riku, I can't wait to hear the finished product." Sora said with his famous smile.
Riku smiled back, "Yeah well. We have our own work to do tomorrow, so bed!"
Sora pouted but pulled the blankets back anyway to get underneath taking the place under the window. Riku got in next to him after turning out the light keeping his back to his friend so that the blush on his face wouldn't be noticed.
"Looks like we're finally having that sleepover huh?" he said.
"Yeah. It feels like so long ago since the last." Sora murmured sleepily snuggling against his friend with his forehead in Riku's back "Goodnight Riku." He whispered before falling asleep completely.
Riku, thanking whatever higher power that Sora was a deep sleeper, turned over carefully so that he was facing his friend and kissed his forehead, "Goodnight Sora." He mentally added, 'I love you.'
Yay! Another chapter finally done! And there was AkuRoku in the mix. X3
The song Riku was writing is called Eden from Yami No Matsuei or Descendents of Darkness by To Destination and the song Demyx was singing is called Yuugao by Weiß. They're awesome, please look them up!
FYI about the name "Jenn" for a boy, it can be used as such and I have seen it. Granted it was in a movie but still.
Sora and Riku are making a cake~!